Expert: Carl Fuglein - 6/5/2009

Question
So I'm not quite a preacher's kid but my parents have been heavily involved in the church since I was born. Both of my parents are on the church board and I myself have been head youth usher which sounds fancy but is mostly just a title. Anyway, I'm 17 now (soon) and I always go through these times when I am just on fire for the Lord, really going after him with all my heart, praying, reading the Bible, telling people about the Gospel, staying away from music, movies and TV shows that don't glorify God and being a good Christian boy.

This only lasts for 3 maybe 5 weeks at most and then I find myself right back into my old habits but worst so I go from good Christian to party guy, cussing guy, whatever guy and then a month or two later I will ask forgiveness go up during altar call and cry, get all emotional throw away all my secular music and get into God and  5 weeks later start slipping and eventually look back and not know how I got so far away.

I have a friend who said something that really hit me pretty hard because right now, currently I am really on fire. My friend, well classmate really asked if I was going through my religious phase again and told me that he gives me two weeks before I forget about all this stuff. Then I heard a radio preacher questioning if the experience is really real when people do what I do. It feels real, it doesn't feel like a phase but that is the way I felt every other time and I am so frustrated because I don't want to fall back again and have this feeling that I have right now to be a phase.

I like being on fire I just hate when the excitement fades and I find myself doing "whatever" I'm doing. Then also it kills my effectiveness when sharing with people because they think I'm on some type of phony religious high.

How do I keep this going?

Is it possible?

Answer
Johan-

The simple answer is:  you're human.  

All of us fail occasionally, all of us have a crisis of faith occasionally.  You're just having them more often.  I would suggest that when you fall back into the regular guy trap that you pray really hard, remove yourself from the situation and try again.

The other possibility is for you to go to the parties and don't drink, don't cuss, and don't do anything "non" Christian.  That's what Jesus did.  If He were here today, that's where he'd be going - to the partties, befriending the drug dealers and porn suppliers, and living the "right" way and convicting the sinners that their way is wrong.

Hope this helps,

Carl