"I FEEL BOKEN
DOWN & BEAT UP"
Do you ever say or think: "It is getting hard to pray God!" or "God seems so far away now!" I feel Lost and Hopeless? I am supposed to put my faith in something that I cannot see!
Most Asked Questions?
"I feel Disconnected from God ?"
"I am Stressed and Depressed ?"
"Where is God ?"
"Did you know connecting with God is just like riding a bicycle?"
Sometimes like this broken bicycle in the picture, we do not feel very connected to God. We feel broken down and beat up and sometimes feeling somewhat useless.
We all go through times of feeling, not in touch with God and thoughts like:
Where are you, God?
I do not feel that close relationship with you God!
It is getting harder and harder to pray!
Is God hearing me?
I am feeling all alone!
This feeling shows up in small little ways at first.
We are feeling down spiritually because of circumstances and situations in our lives. We go back to carrying our load of burdens when we forget to give them to our Lord and trust Him that He will look after them.
This boils down to simply not depending on Him. We all struggle in some way in our step-by-step walk in this area. Because there is a battle going on between serving God and serving ourselves and the enemy is always working to discourage us. It usually starts in baby steps but can blossom into something big if we do not make the right choices. It is a good thing when we start asking questions like “Why Lord?”, "Where are you?," "Help? Help?"
As long as you walk with God, this battle will rage. BUT as we start in our progressive steps: first as a baby in our spiritual walk, then crawling, then walking and then running. Learning how to lean and trust Jesus a little more each step. These are all progressive steps, and sometimes we do not see or appreciate what God is doing over time. We can be our own worst critics.
Take a moment; imagine in your mind a one-year-old baby as in the picture, saying I want to ride a bicycle.
What do you think would happen?
Sometimes we can do the same thing, go places, and do things we should not be doing. Pushing the envelope with God, being stubborn, wanting our own way.
We are like that child on the bike we might want to start riding before we start crawling or walking. I can relate to the little girl riding the bike before she is ready. Can You?
Our God knows all about you, and He is there to protect and teach you each step of the way, as you read, his Word (the Bible) and talk to God in prayer. The Bible has God’s perfect plan for you. As you look at a map for traveling from A to Z in a car, so God’s Bible is our map for traveling from steps A to step Z in our walk with Him. Unfortunately, we sometimes forget or do not make the time, or we are just too lazy to look at our map, the Bible. Recommend that consistent time each day to study the map that God has designed for you.
I remember back when I got my first bike; it was a very large old bike at least three times bigger than it should have been. If you can imagine for a second, we had no fancy bikes back then, just two pedals and the only speed was how fast you peddled. 
I could not reach the pedals and sit on the seat at the same time as my little legs could hardly reach the pedals. Dad took me in the back alley behind our house, and tried, and tried to teach me to ride. He would push the bike, and I would fall. He got frustrated after some time and I felt I had disappointed Him. Eventually, he got fed up and finally asked and paid an older neighborhood boy to take over pushing me on this gigantic bike. Yes, I did learn how to ride eventually, but with many bruises and a deflated ego as every kid wants to please his Dad.
Our God relationship steps are the same: as a baby, then crawling, walking, and running steps. It is like riding our first bike. We will ALL make mistakes and bad choices, and we will have bruises to show for it. We will frustrate those around us and ourselves in the process of our daily steps.
Because we get scared and frustrated as I did on my first bicycle, but the neighbor boy helped me by not displaying disappointment, but instead patience and encouragement. God does the same thing by bringing Christians your way to help push you on your journey and help pick you up when you bruise yourself, on your bike ride with God.
If you do not have a Christian mentor in your life, please ask your Pastor. If you do not attend and are looking for a Church family, ask us here, and I will send three or four contact information on Churches in your area or ask for a Pastor’s visit here. It is essential as in the true bicycle story, I needed a patient and encouraging the older wiser person to help guide me and catch me before I fell. We all need Christian friends to help us and give us a push and pick us up if we fall and bruise our self like this boy in the photo.
If you are attending a caring Church, find opportunities to get involved or talk to your Pastor. I promise you; He will have something for you. I encourage you to think outside of your comfort zone. When I accepted Jesus into my life many years ago, I was asked to teach a Sunday School class of 6 to 8 year old boys. Yes, I am pretty sure they knew more about God than me.
But the one really significant thing I have learned as you go step-by-step on this Christian journey, God will use your weakness for His glory. That you can take to the spiritual bank in heaven, guaranteed! That is my testimony in a nutshell and believe me without a doubt if God can do that for me, He absolutely can do that for you, GUARANTEED!
If I had no one to push me on the bicycle, who knows how long it would have taken me to learn. The positive is if I could ride that gigantic old bike I can ride anything. We all have giant steps in life's journey that sometimes seem impossible. But with Jesus on this journey with us, we can take on anything with depending and riding our spiritual bicycle with Him as our coach.
You are not on this life journey alone. You have the greatest teacher Jesus pushing you and guiding you, as in this picture. Keep the connection open and keep connecting the dots, by these four simple vital steps.
1. Read God's Map the BIBLE (God's Word ) daily.
2. Have a conversation with God in prayer daily.
3. Get involved in sharing the Gospel.
4. Get involved and faithfully attend a caring local Church.
Warning!
If you do not connect the dots, it will affect your step-by-step bike journey with God. GUARANTEED!
You also have the Church body (Christians) and the Pastor as your cheering squad. In addition, if that is not enough, you have the Angels in heaven the largest supporters for watching over you riding your Christian bicycle gradually improving with dependence on God.
What would have happened if my Dad had not asked the older neighbor boy to help me?
How about you? What would happen if you never asked for help from your Church family?
(Please take a moment and think about it.)
I understand for some that is like riding a giant bike trying to find and attend a local Church. Yes, it can be a giant step with all our pre-conceived ideas or past experiences, but still a very significant one. We would encourage you to faithfully attend and get involved in a nurturing Church. Meet with the Pastor; go for coffee and connect on some level with mature Christians as the picture of the couple riding their bikes into the sunset. Go to a few churches in your area and trust God for guidance to find a gospel preaching Church. If you need help in suggestions for a Church to go here.
Yes, you will meet with imperfect people in any Church, but let us be imperfect together as a strong body of believers serving God. As in the bike story, my Dad had to pay the older boy to protect me from falling and hurting myself. God, our Father, did the same thing, He sent His own Son Jesus to pay for our sins at the Cross and save me from a life of falling and bruising. (John 3:16).
Jesus has paid the price for us and is protecting, teaching, guiding and loving us as we ride our spiritual bike with Him. Years ago a driver made an illegal turn and hit me on my bike as in the first picture below. A lot of people came to my rescue to help and protect me. The Church (body of believers) are there also to suypport and protect us, as in the last picture #4 below.
PICTURES 1 - 4
1. Before we Knew God 2. Searching for Answers 3. Finding the Answers 4. Our Journey with God
On our bike ride with God we never know what is around the next curve, but a continued life of trust, leaning and depending on Him and You will be a winner in the race of life.
"CONNECTIONING WITH GOD IS JUST LIKE LEARNING HOW TO RIDE A BICYCLE"
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