I thought I would offer this up as kind of an example of what we do at our church when someone is falling back into sin.
There is a guy at our church who is the uncle of someone in our small group. This man has spent a big part of his life addicted to different substances. If you read Don's (from the forum) thread about his after baptism you can read about this man's testimony).. In any case he accepted Christ as his saviour and experience quite a few months of freedom from drugs but the pull to go back to that lifestyle was too much for him I guess,, at this time in his life. We,, through the small group person who is related to him have heard that he is in a terrible way about his addictions again.
Each week we pray for this man. We pray for God's divine healing in his life. We pray that the Holy Spirit speak loudly to him that Jesus loves him and wants better for him. We pray for protection from health issues that addictions can cause. We pray for his children that they would not be harmed. We pray that he will come back to church so that he might find some purpose to his life. This is the general direction for all the prayers for him.
Recently this man has come back to church. We greet him with open arms and we praise the Lord each time he comes. He is still in the throws of his addiction.
We have discussed if we would want him to be part of our small group as it is more intimate and the children sometimes are there and can hear what we are talking about, as a group we decided that if he wanted to come and be part of our small group we would have him and we would also rearrange things so the children would be free from that type dialog. But we are wholeheartedly praying that he will participate in Bible study and fellowhip with us.
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This message has been edited by pariskat... on Aug 11, 2008 4:43 PM
Another thing I would like to add to this is that our desire for him to come back to church is mostly so that he can be strengthened in knowledge of Christs love for him so that he can have a good life possibly free from his addictions and that God would get the glory for that healing and changed life. We also believe that he is still saved.
John 10
28And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
29My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
30I and my Father are one.
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This message has been edited by pariskat... on Aug 11, 2008 8:09 PM
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