I have a family member that as a young man loved the Lord and felt he had a calling on his life to become a minister of the gospel. As he grew up, I believe he tried with all his heart to follow that calling. Later he had started Christian college with that in mind and attended some various workshops through a church that would equip him to fulfill it.
But along the way, even as a youngster Satan threw in some things that he had to struggle with. And for several years, he held on to God trying to overcome them. He lost his best friends when they came to the age they could drive and he did not want to go out partying with them. Upon that, they literally deserted and berated him in front of other people. He had a disease which although was not one that would kill him, it was a hardship to him in so many ways. The list goes on, and I think you may get the picture.
Then came a time when he seemed to be slowly letting go of God. It happened in a way that if you weren't looking closely at his life, you might have overlooked it.
He dropped out of college when it became too hard, So he ordered courses to take online so that he could work at a job and take the courses on his own time. And he eventually gave that up, as well.
Things in his job did not go well for him. And although I think he was perhaps already bitter about the disease he had, he did not show it, but that bitterness began to spill over into his job and he began to outwardly berate coworkers. And eventually, the people that loved him the most. His family.
It was so hard for his family to watch as he slipped away from God and has never gone back to him to this day.
And so what do you do with someone you love so much that has left God and the calling that had been upon him? Really, isn't that the ultimate sin that anyone can do when they have been a Christian for a number of years, and then turned his back on those things? Some would say this man had never been a Christian in the first place. However, I was there and I know for a fact that he was as I watched him grow and the things he had to depend on God for. But sometimes life and its struggles coupled with the devil just do get in the way and if we let bitterness and other things grow inside us, it becomes cancer that will kill our spirit.And it not only spreads in us but it spreads to everything we do.
Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness spring up to trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
Hebrews 12:15
And in this mans life, it indeed has. And how sad he is and how sad those that love him are.And it had become so much a part of him, that he doesn't even speak to his family anymore. And it hurts the heart of the mother that gave him life so many years ago.
But we know that God is able. Able through prayer to bring back what satan has stolen and so we pray each day that this man will at some point remember where he used to be and get back to where he needs to be. And we have every faith in God that will be accomplished in Gods own timing.
And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. Romans 11:23
I hope those that read this, have not turned away from God or his calling on your life. For to do that can bring troubles that you nor those around you want to deal with. And if your loved one has turned away, don't forget there is a loving God that is willing to bring them back into the fold. We must be diligent in our prayers that we know God is faithful and that through him all things work together for those that love God and are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28.
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Hi Friends. I am glad you stopped by. I hope to see you tomorrow for another nugget from God's Word! Now, be blessed and bless someone that really needs a blessing in their life!
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