PREPARING TO BELIEVE
Greetings in the name of Jesus:
Some people would say that is impossible to prepare to believe in Christ, but I feel like we have so many today within the church that have never really been given the right tools to go beyond a verbal commitment to Christ and into a heart-felt relationship with God. It is after all that relationship that we need most in the transformation of our lives, otherwise we are merely believing in God while still living as the old men we once were.
If you don't think that is possible after you have said that you accepted Jesus as Savior then simply look around at those who are professing to be Christian in the church that you attend. How many within your circle of Christian friends are demonstrating a marked transformation in their lives through their relationship with Christ? I need to ask the question WHY IS THAT? May I offer a suggestion? I think that belief and Faith are separated by having had experience with God. While it is important to have the knowledge that leads one to make a choice to believe in Jesus as the Son of God without making contact with the power of the Holy Spirit , and inviting Him to live in that empty space within our lives it becomes impossible for us to fill ourselves with enough of God's word and will to change our lives. If we cannot germinate the seed that has been planted within us we will find the enemy will find a way to steal it away before it takes root.
I believe that the newly formed belief in Christ as Lord is only the first step in our journey of Faith building. While it is good to study scripture; and many of us have found a belief in God through reading scripture alone,the real parts of a relationship with God comes through experiencing His work within our lives. I can tell you at the start that we as the Church are supposed to be first at showing that experience in Christ by getting involved with the lives of these newly formed believers.
It becomes our responsibility to make sure that anyone who has professed in Christ has both the knowledge and the commitment to follow through with their public proclamation of belief through baptism and help with their personal growth in Christ through being hooked up with a mentor who can relate to them and be trusted by them.
One of the things that we don't get in our society is that having a relationship with Christ is not like going through a McDonald's to buy a sandwich. It is a relationship building process just like the ones that we have with one another. We build trust in someones word to us and then their actions upon the word they give us; this is the same with God. Does God have reason to believe you when you say something to Him? Experiencing your relationship with God on a first hand basis is what has developed your faith in Christ, but we as a church have a great role to play in that development at first by giving the new believer a safe place to grow up in. That is why God calls us to be a family here.
The most important thing to God is that we can grow beyond a simple belief in Him to a trust in Him through the experiences we have within the Church. We know that the enemy believes in God more than most of us, but He does not have a relationship of love and trust. It is time that we as the Church step up to help these new believers have experiences with God that cause their faith to blossom. This is a conversation that we need to have between all who profess Jesus as Lord. May you richly bless Gof through your life in Him/
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
Some people would say that is impossible to prepare to believe in Christ, but I feel like we have so many today within the church that have never really been given the right tools to go beyond a verbal commitment to Christ and into a heart-felt relationship with God. It is after all that relationship that we need most in the transformation of our lives, otherwise we are merely believing in God while still living as the old men we once were.
If you don't think that is possible after you have said that you accepted Jesus as Savior then simply look around at those who are professing to be Christian in the church that you attend. How many within your circle of Christian friends are demonstrating a marked transformation in their lives through their relationship with Christ? I need to ask the question WHY IS THAT? May I offer a suggestion? I think that belief and Faith are separated by having had experience with God. While it is important to have the knowledge that leads one to make a choice to believe in Jesus as the Son of God without making contact with the power of the Holy Spirit , and inviting Him to live in that empty space within our lives it becomes impossible for us to fill ourselves with enough of God's word and will to change our lives. If we cannot germinate the seed that has been planted within us we will find the enemy will find a way to steal it away before it takes root.
I believe that the newly formed belief in Christ as Lord is only the first step in our journey of Faith building. While it is good to study scripture; and many of us have found a belief in God through reading scripture alone,the real parts of a relationship with God comes through experiencing His work within our lives. I can tell you at the start that we as the Church are supposed to be first at showing that experience in Christ by getting involved with the lives of these newly formed believers.
It becomes our responsibility to make sure that anyone who has professed in Christ has both the knowledge and the commitment to follow through with their public proclamation of belief through baptism and help with their personal growth in Christ through being hooked up with a mentor who can relate to them and be trusted by them.
One of the things that we don't get in our society is that having a relationship with Christ is not like going through a McDonald's to buy a sandwich. It is a relationship building process just like the ones that we have with one another. We build trust in someones word to us and then their actions upon the word they give us; this is the same with God. Does God have reason to believe you when you say something to Him? Experiencing your relationship with God on a first hand basis is what has developed your faith in Christ, but we as a church have a great role to play in that development at first by giving the new believer a safe place to grow up in. That is why God calls us to be a family here.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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