If you haven’t gotten it already – the point is that the Lord loves you!

Perhaps like David & Samson you’ve turned away from the Lord and fallen for the temptations of the world or the flesh. Or like Jonah & Peter, you’ve not done what the Lord has asked you to and not realized that apart from the Lord you can do nothing.

Perhaps like the prophet Jeremiah says, you’ve forsaken the Lord and tried other sources to find happiness, only to realize that any source apart from the Lord is imperfect.

Whatever it is, the Lord is speaking to you right now – COME BACK.

He is still saying to you what He said to Israel through Jeremiah a few verses down:

Jeremiah 3:11-22:

“‘Return, faithless __________,’ declares the LORD, (insert your name here)
‘I will frown on you no longer, for I am merciful,’ declares the LORD,
‘I will not be angry forever
Only acknowledge your guilt—
______________________________________ (insert your failings here)
you have rebelled against the LORD your God,
you have scattered your favors to foreign gods
under every spreading tree,
and have not obeyed me,’ ”
declares the LORD.
“Return, faithless ____________; (insert your name here)
I will cure you of backsliding.”

These are not my words, but the Word of the Lord. The Lord Himself is right now imploring you to return, acknowledge your guilt before Him and assuring you that He will “cure” you from the “sickness” of backsliding.

Let’s take an example from the New Testament. The example a fisherman called Simon who would eventually become St. Peter.

Simon was one of the twelve men Jesus Himself chose to be his closest friends on earth. Jesus himself renamed him Cephas (Both Cephas [Aramaic] and Peter [Greek] mean rock).

Simon Peter walked with the Lord throughout His ministry. He witnessed all the miracles, healings, signs & wonders first hand. He along with the other 11 was given “power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases… to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick” (Luke 9:1-2) and he did go through the towns, preaching and healing in the name of Jesus (Luke 9:6). He was with Jesus through it all.

How Peter deals with his backsliding:
1. He repents of his sins (We are told he “weeps bitterly” (Mt 26:75)
2. He subsequently affirms his love to Jesus post His resurrection & vows to do all Jesus asks of him (John 21:15-17)

How God responds to Peter:

When Jesus renamed Simon as Peter, He had told him, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:18-19).

This was one heavy responsibility! Even though Peter had subsequently gone on to betray Him, Jesus did not revoke this decree. He knew that Peter had repented from his heart & He never let Peter feel less than worthy for the position.

Jesus also further revealed to Peter how he would not only spend the rest of his life, but even glorify God through his death (Luke 21:19).

Let’s take another Old Testament example – that of Samson.

Right from his birth, Samson was chosen and anointed. His birth was announced to his mother by an angel (Judges 13:3) and he was to be a man who would be “set apart to God from birth, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines” (Judges 13:5)

And indeed Samson did grow and the LORD blessed him, and the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him (Judges 13:24-25)

He was then taken into captivity, tortured (his eyes were gouged out) and used by the enemy as a source of “entertainment”.

How Samson deals with his backsliding:
1. He turned back to the Lord “Then Samson prayed to the LORD, “O Sovereign LORD, remember me”” (Judges 16:28)
2. He wasn’t even afraid to lose his life, if it meant destroying the enemy (Judges 16:30)

How God responds to Samson:

God not only gave Samson back his strength so that he could pull down the temple of the enemy and destroy all the people in it, but also He blessed Samson with an honorable burial – not only his brothers, but his father’s whole family got his body and laid it to rest among their people. (Judges 16:31)

Another well known backslider in the Old Testament is Jonah.

Jonah was a man who knew God (Jonah 4:2). He also knew and understood the Word of God well enough for the Lord to command him to go and preach to an important city like Nineveh in order for them to repent and be saved from God’s wrath.

Finally thrown overboard to stop the raging storm, Jonah is swallowed by a great fish and only then does he cry out to the Lord.

How Jonah deals with his backsliding:
1. He cries out to the Lord for help “In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry” (Jonah 2:1)
2. He acknowledges that apart from God there is no grace “Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs” (Jonah 2:8)
3. He promises to make retributions for his wrongdoing “What I have vowed I will make good.” (Jonah 2:9)

How God responds to Jonah:

God spares Jonah’s life – immediately after Jonah prays, we see that “the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land” (Jonah 2:10)

But God not only spares Jonah’s life, but he also gives him a second chance to do what he had to do. (Jonah 3:1). He did not look at Jonah’s past record, but at his potential.

Jonah subsequently goes on to preach to the entire city of Nineveh, get them to repent & turn from their sin & God had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.

Let us now look at some example from Scripture of holy men of God who Backslid.

Let’s start with King David.

David was just a young shepherd “tending his father’s flocks” when the Lord called and anointed him (through Samuel the prophet at the time) to be King over all of Israel.

Before he became King though, he was subjected to great trials, mostly at the hands of his predecessor King Saul who often tried to kill him. During all this time of trial, David remained true to God.

When he finally became King, he was one of the most successful Kings in the history of Israel – the first to make Israel an independent state.

And yet, this is the same man of whom God says “David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart” (1 Sam 13:14).

How can this be? It’s because despite his many sins, when confronted by the prophet Nathan (2 Samuel 12), David came clean.

How David deals with his backsliding:
1. He immediately confessing his wrongdoings
2. He asks for forgiveness
3. He accepts the consequences of his sin.

How God responds to David:

God not only forgave all his sins “The LORD on his part has forgiven your sin: you shall not die” (2 Samuel 13:13) but also we see David going on to be a direct ancestor of God’s Son incarnate Jesus “Of this man’s (David’s) seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus” (Acts 13:23).

Before you proceed reading this book, honestly ask yourself where you are in your personal walk with the Lord.

* One way you can do this is to evaluate what fruit of the Holy Spirit you have in your life – instead of growing, have you lost (in any degree) the Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness or Self Control that you once had in the Lord?

* Another is to ask yourself: Have you temporarily lost your zeal and fervor for the Lord? Have you completely gotten caught up in cares of the world and all its lures?

If you answered “Yes” to any of those questions right now, you are what is called a “Backslider”.

The word “Backslide” means “to lapse morally or in the practice of religion” and “to revert to a worse condition” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

By its very definition, we see two types of backsliders:
1. Those who have ‘lapsed’ (a temporary deviation or fall) and
2. Those who have reverted to a ‘worse’ condition than they were before.

At the very start of this book, let me encourage you by telling you this simple fact – EVERY SINGLE CHRISTIAN HAS BACKSLID to some degree, at some stage in their walk with God.

This fact is well documented throughout Scripture (as we will see later on in the book) and will also be attested to by any honest Christian.

Another VERY important fact that you have to keep in your mind at all times is that:

the LORD UNDERSTANDS!

He loves you so intimately, He knows your heart and your mind so minutely, that He is more than willing to forgive all and restore all. In fact, this book is one of the ways He is reaching out to you right now, waiting, longing, yearning for you to come back to Him.

Are you feeling guilty that you backslid? Guilt is not from the Lord, but rather from the evil one! Has someone judged you harshly because you’ve backslid? Some people try to condemn backsliders using the Scripture passage in Luke 9:62, where Jesus says: “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” However that Scripture is really explaining the fact that if we’re in ministry, we should have our eyes and heart focused on the Lord and not on the world.

Take courage! Jesus would never condemn any backslider out of the kingdom of God because:
(a) He understands our human weakness and
(b) He desires that each and every person repents and freely attains the Salvation that He purchased for us with His precious holy blood on the cross.

These facts are clearly visible to us in Luke 15, as Jesus tell us a parable of one of the most infamous backsliders in the Bible, the Prodigal Son, who left his father and all that was good, to pursue a life in the world and in the flesh. Like his father in the parable, our heavenly Father too is waiting with open arms to restore to you all your inheritance and rightful place in His kingdom; as His son / daughter!

The first step the prodigal son took towards his recovery was when he admitted to himself that he had done wrong and needed to go back to his father and repent. Any de-addiction center will tell you – the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. Having admitted that you are a backslider, you have completed the first step, so take courage that you’re already on your way up!

If you’re reading this with a heart of repentance and a desire to get back to where the Lord wants you to be, means you’re already turning towards the Light that is the Lord – and as Scripture tells us “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8) – which means the Lord, at this very moment is drawing near to you too!

As you continue to read, you’ll see more and more examples of people throughout the Bible who have backslid – and yet, gone on to becoming “great” in God’s sight.

Take a moment now before you continue reading, to tell God, from your heart, that this is what you earnestly desire – to come back to Him and to do what is good in His sight.