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Marks Of A Backslidden Heart Marks Of A Backslidden Heart Marks Of A Backslidden Heart Marks Of A Backslidden Heart
Lectures on Revival by Charles Finney
The following are Marks Of A Backslidden Heart taken from Charles Finney's book:
Lectures on Revival.

His book may be purchased through our association with Amazon.com.




  1. Outward formality in spiritual experience—a stereotyped, stiff way of doing things that clearly flows from habit rather than gushing from a spiritual life.
  2. Distaste for spiritual things. We always enjoy saying and doing the things that please the one we love most.
  3. Bondage signals a backslidden heart. He dutifully serves while having no heart for praise, worship, private prayer, or any exercise spontaneous and delightful to those with love for God. (Spiritual bondage!)
  4. An uncontrolled temper. When love fills a heart, its temper is naturally broken and sweet, or at least the will bridles it and keeps it from breaking out.
  5. An uncharitable spirit—one that fails to put the best possible construction on everyone's behavior.
  6. An attitude of faultfinding, a quickness to fasten blame on others and judge them harshly.
  7. A lack of interest in God's word. Probably nothing more conclusively proves someone has backslidden.
  8. Lack of desire for private prayer.
  9. Little interest in bringing people to Christ and promoting spiritual awakening.
  10. Boredom with accounts of spiritual revivals.
  11. Boredom with accounts of mission endeavors.
  12. Loss of interest in sacrificial works. (Church, community, governments, etc.)
  13. Loss of interest in spiritual conversation.
  14. Apathy toward fellowship with spiritual people.
  15. Loss of zeal for sanctification. (A longing to be rid of indwelling sin forever.)
  16. Lack of concern for new converts.
  17. An uncharitable attitude toward people who claim to be converted... Love hopes all things and believes all things, and is ready to judge kindly those who profess conversion to Christ.
  18. The spirit of prayer is missing. (A lacking of strong desires in the heart for the salvation of sinners and the sanctification of saints.)
  19. A back slidden heart can be seen in the manner of prayer. (Praying from Romans 7, not 8.)
  20. The heart grown cold shows itself in praying almost exclusively for self, and for those friends regarded as parts of self. (Backslidder's prayer meeting = prayers for little else.)
  21. Absence from prayer meetings for insignificant reasons.
  22. Neglecting family prayer for slight reasons.
  23. Regarding private prayer more as a duty than a privilege.
  24. Longing for secular amusements. When the soul doesn't find more delight in God than in all world things, the heart is sick.
  25. Spiritual blindness—a lack of spiritual discernment—leads to adopting loose moral principles, not discerning the goodness of God's law and of His requirements generally.
  26. Spiritual apathy combined with alertness and sensitivity to the world, clearly displays an unloving hear. (People who feel deeply about worldly things but don't about spiritual ones.)
  27. A self-indulgent attitude—the most common occasion of backsliding—is the clamor to indulge our appetites and inclinations.
  28. A seared conscience.
  29. Loose moral standards. (Engaging in all sorts of worldly doings on the Lord's day is paramount in these loose standards.)
  30. Fear of man.
  31. Sticklishness about forms, ceremonies, and non-essentials.
  32. Faultfinding about measures used to promote revivals. (Measures blessed by God.)

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