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Bill W said:
My prayer life is lacking big time... I have a hard time listening. Spend most time talking to Him. I think if I could make a breakthrough in my prayer life I might not have these doubts at times.

I need some encouragement as we all do at times.
Bill,

Unlike what you might find and/or expect to find among typical professing Christians, I cannot and will not pat you on the back and say something like, "He, no problem brother.... God loves you and everything is okay!" <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/rolleyes2.gif" alt="" /> What I can and will encourage you to DO is to resist living by your feelings, e.g., "I don't feel like reading my Bible or praying right now." but rather be obedient to the Lord's commands:

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John 8:31-32 (KJV) "Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, <span style="background-color:yellow">If ye continue in my word, [then] are ye my disciples indeed;</span> And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

John 15:4-9 (KJV) "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye [are] the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast [them] into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love."

Romans 11:21-22 (ASV) ". . . for if God spared not the natural branches, neither will he spare thee. Behold then the goodness and severity of God: toward them that fell, severity; but toward thee, God's goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off."

Colossians 1:21-23 (ASV) And you, being in time past alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without blemish and unreproveable before him: <span style="background-color:yellow">if so be that ye continue in the faith, grounded and stedfast,</span> and not moved away from the hope of the gospel which ye heard, which was preached in all creation under heaven; whereof I Paul was made a minister."

Hebrews 3:12-14 (ASV) Take heed, brethren, lest haply there shall be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God: but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called To-day; lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin: for we are become partakers of Christ, <span style="background-color:yellow">if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end:</span>"

James 1:22-26 (ASV) "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves. For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror: for he beholdeth himself, and goeth away, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But he that looketh into the perfect law, the [law] of liberty, and [so] continueth, being not a hearer that forgetteth but a doer that worketh, this man shall be blessed in his doing. If any man thinketh himself to be religious, while he bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his heart, this man's religion is vain."
My purpose of providing you with these passages is two-fold: 1) To illustrate the biblical teaching concerning those who profess faith and those who possess faith. The former have the appearance of being of God and the latter are of God for their lives are governed by a true desire to please God and actually exhibit the fruits of the Spirit of God. 2) To show you that assurance comes and goes in relation to ones conformity, obedience to the will of God. One cannot neglect God and expect to have assurance of His love.

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1 John 1:5-7 (ASV) "And this is the message which we have heard from him and announce unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all sin."
Does this mean that assurance is based solely upon our desires and/or works? No, not at all. For the promises of God are irrevocable. All for whom Christ died will be infallibly saved. In other words, assurance of salvation has an objective aspect to it, i.e., the surety of God's promises and Christ's substitutionary atonement. And, there is a subjective element to it which varies according to how we live before God. We cannot presume upon God's saving grace in Christ for ourselves if we spurn Him, as the Apostle John wrote above. So, perhaps often our prayers will consist of, "Lord, I believe . . . help my unbelief!"

From this I hope to encourage you to be conformed to the image of Christ and do those things which are glorifying to the God you profess before men and which will serve to conform you to the image of the Christ.

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Colossians 1:9-14 (ASV) "For this cause we also, since the day we heard [it], do not cease to pray and make request for you, that ye may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, to walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to the might of his glory, unto all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks unto the Father, who made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love; in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins:"

In His grace,

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simul iustus et peccator

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