Having heard too many lies and promises broken, I forget to remind myself that God is not man. He always keep his promises, yet I find myself at times too scared to trust Him without realizing it, especially in stressful situations.

1 Cor 1:9 - God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

It's not only those who have not believed in Christ who face the problem of unbelief. As a Christian, I have been guilty countless times of leaning towards my feelings, emotions, and circumstances instead of putting faith in God for deliverance in trials.

Thank you Mark for this revelation for me now to realize that I don't always FEEL that God loves me, but I know now what I feel is not important because I forget and I get blinded by sin.

He is always faithful, and why shouldn't we?

1Cor 1:8-9 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Great reminder of how we are the children of God and nothing will separate us from His love. I like your comparison of your own daughter. I can't wait for the book to arrive!

Fashion statement, absolutely! Never mind men in their 20s pulling off pink but wow your dad! And still so enthusiastic about serving the Lord and preaching. God bless this man.

I love how you want to like him just as your son wants be like you, and please maybe the pink coat as well?

Your family is definitely an interesting bunch, and somehow I wasn't very surprised that an Altrogge is rocking in a pink coat, hehe.

It is always a pleasure to talk to you, Mark. I admire and respect you as someone who genuinely cares about others. I really didn't know what to expect for an answer but I can't put to words how I really appreciate your encouragement, love and your respect for me in midst of people quick to point fingers. I have only shared this with bloggingtheologically.com and my counselor before.

I'm reading your comment over again and again and it just means so much to me that you would care for me like a shepherd tending a lost wounded sheep. I can't help but think how Jesus is like our Good Shepherd. if the Lord will, I would love to meet you either on earth or in heaven.

Thanks Mark for sharing one of the not so bright moments of our lives. It means so much to see that you have the courage to be transparent and it moves me to do the same. Shouldn't this be how we should live our lives as Christians carrying each other's sorrows as well as joy?

I read Stephen's book My Friend, My Hero, My Dad, and it was so thrilling to see how you were saved from your past sins.

I am struggling with many other sins such as lust, coveteousness, and even pornography and same sex attraction. I am fighting hard in the Lord to get rid of these sins. So many times, I would cry out to God to just take these desires away because I would fail again and again. I ended up getting depressed and stop trying.

But I realize that God is willing to forgive every time we confess to Him. As long as we live, I guess we should expect ourselves to sin less, but to be sinless, which is only in Christ. As we strive to be more like Him, it is only through seeing our own failures that brings more glory to God. Great reminder that Jesus was there tempted as we are, and it's so much more reassuring to know He is with us in this fight.

"So rejoice! You’re worse than you thought you were." Deja vu. I heard Paul Washer saying that on My Hope is not in Myself but in Christ about it's not about our performance but what Christ can do in us. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ941ERut2M&fe...

God has used our sins to remind ourselves about the gospel and forgiveness. Often, I'm always reminded of the constant failures I have and in turn, stop striving for godliness for awhile, because I don't think me or others around will forgive. But it's up to me or anyone else, it's God who forgives, and that should be enough for me. I sometimes gaze into the heavens and trying to understand the depths of love and mercy God has for us, and get so overwhelmed, the only thing I could do is praise and do my best to follow Him.

Thanks for this post to remind me always to see Christ and the gospel not just in our shining moments but also in times of sin and forgiveness. Guess this is a good time to sing "Forgiven" by Sanctus Real. :)

I think one thing we might add could be something we could do in our daily lives to not to be judgmental with everything and make people feel they are comfortable if they need to talk. I definitely agree with Elaine about not treating people differently after. So many times, I would be afraid to talk to anyone, because of how they will talk to me about this. I think we do too much of "thou shalt not..." and quick to point out punishment instead of focusing on the gospel. We need to remember WWJD and how he forgave those coming forward and willing to repent and rebuked the self-righteous. I could feel there are so many hidden sins around and sometimes it just takes one person to take the lead to embrace the confession to get others to confess.

Thanks for all these amazing ways to pursue in joy in Christ! I'm going to post this on my wall this week.

I agree with Caroline. No 13 was where I had to start getting over myself. It's so true for me when I was focusing on myself and my own trials and circumstances, I was the most depressed. It's one aspect from the Fruit of the Spirit that's always so overlooked.

Coming from the worst of the depression from transitioning to university, I have learned so much to lose focus on myself and concentrate on the Lord. I had help from a brother and from reading my Bible and praying. And when we lose joy, it's so hard to get back to God until you realize that you are desperate and need God. (something from Joshua Harris's Desperate series). Paul gives us an excellent example of enduring through great suffering yet able to commit to the Lord with joy. For him to live, is Christ, and die, gain.

I guess I was always under the impression that the Japanese having a determined heart was more of a positive thing that we should learn from, but this case sin applies too. The Japanese soldiers were taught never to surrender and to commit suicide rather than be a POW. I'm not endorsing them btw, being ethnically Chinese, so I knew they did many horrible things.

I forgot which blog I had read from that had a story of Galatian or somewhere in Asia Minor soldiers going to war, and they always had their family by their side and they always burnt their boats after crossing the river, so to remind themselves that the war is real and they must either win or die, with no way of turning back, and winning it for their families with a clear conscience of what would happen to them if they lose.

But yes, sin is always lurking around the corner, getting us when we least expect it and in our weakest moments. That is why we must fight the good fight of faith and put on the whole armor of God. I love the quote from Col 3:5 about "put to death" in contrast to put away or put off. We must be relentless or even ruthless in this matter. But I think even as sin never gives up, we should not give up on this war. But we must remind ourselves it is only through God that we can fight this war, and it will not be won until our life is over.