New Believers

Important Things

2009-02-05T06:05:00.000-08:00

When I came to Christ at the age of 26

Christianty and Church was a whole new

thing to me. From darkness to light, wow!

In this Blog I'm purposing to share with you the things that I have learned to be of great importance in my personal spiritual growth and develoment over the past 34 years.

(1) Spiritually Birthed Into God's Family

2009-02-05T05:42:00.000-08:00

Jesus said in John 3:3 & 7 that people need to be "Born Again". How does this work? Jesus was making it clear that in order to be apart of God's spiritual family one must be birthed into it. To be apart of the human family we must be born into it. The same is true for God's spiritual family. John 3:6 - Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.

Experiencing spiritual birth by the power of the Holy Spirit is two fold. When a person repents of their sins and puts their full trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior the Spirit of Christ enters the human heart (spirit) giving new spiritual life. At this time the "Born Again" Believer is placed into the spiritual family of God. God becomes our legitimate Heavenly Father and we become His children. Gal 4:6 - And because we are His children, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, "Abba, Father."

A genuine salvation experience is both powerful and life changing. It is important as a “new believer” to keep in mine that you now very much apart of God's family. He is your heavenly Father and cares very deeply for you. You have entered a whole new relationship with God, a relationship that will grow and mature. Keep this focus before at all times and remember that with God there are no illegitimate children. He wants you and has personally purposed your spiritual birth into His family. You can trust Him to love and care for you.

(2) It's All About An Intimate Relationship

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The most wonderful thing to happen in a person's life is to come into a spiritually right relationship with the Lord. Along the spiritual journey there are numerous things that will seek to distract you from the fundamentals of relationship with Jesus Christ.

2 Cor. 11:3 - But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted.

There’s a verse of Scripture from Proverbs that’s good one to commit to memory. Proverbs 4:18 - The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. Relationship with Christ is progressive and as we journey along the pathway of life we get closer and closer to the heart of God as He reveals more and more of Himself to us. This is a very personal journey with no limits on how close we can get to the heart of the One who loved enough to die in our place and to rise from the dead to give us eternal life.

Along the journey you’ll need to purpose not to loose sight of what Christianity is really all about. It’s all about an intimate personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ; one that is based on the eternal Word of God.

(3) Communications

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As a New Believer it’s very important to focus on building relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. How do we do that? As with all healthy relationships open communications is essential. We need to talk to God openly, honestly and often. No secrets!

If God knows everything why pray? God is relational. He is not a rapist. He has chosen to honor our will and refuses to violate it. He works with us on invitation. Notice Rev 3:20 "Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear My voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends". God has proven His love for us through the shed blood of Jesus. His love cannot be questioned yet He refuses to force it upon us. As we choose to seek the Lord in vocally we are expressing our willingness and passion to have relationship with Him. The Lord is looking for willingness and openness. He looked to be welcomed into your life situations. Amos 3:3 Can two people walk together without agreeing on the direction?

Because God knows everything about us we are able to be transparent with Him. We have no need to hide anything from Him. There’s no need for trying to be someone or something we’re not. There’s no need to use “religious jargon”. Just be yourself.

Ph. 4:6,7 - Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. 7 Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

(4) Reading God's Word

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How can we possibly understand the invisible God who created all we can and cannot see? Where can we go to learn of His person, to learn His likes and dislikes? He has seen to it that we have a written record of all He wants us to know. The Bible is God's Word to us today. 2Tim. 3:16, 17 - All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip His people to do every good work.

The Scriptures clearly reveal to us the character and nature of God. It reveals His true heart and person. It's important for you to establish a disciplined daily Bible reading. There two fundimental reasons for this. One of course is gaining information regarding the truth about the Lord and His Kingdom. And the second is that through it the new spiritual life Believers receive is nurtured and fed. It's our spiritual food. 1P. 2:2,3 - Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, 3 now that you have had a taste of the Lord's kindness. It's important to keep in mind that as you are reading God's Word you are both gaining information and spiritual nourishment.

Rom. 10:17 - So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ. God uses the natural things to teach us about spiritual things. The importance of being spiritual fed God's Word is powerfully illustrated through the natural. In the physical realm we generally eat three time a day to properly sustain physical life. How much more important is that that we properly feed the new spiritual birthed within when we were "Born Again".

I encourage New Believers to start reading the Bible in the New Testament. Read the Gospel of John first and then Ephesians and Colossians followed by reading the other three Gospels, Romans, 1st & 2nd Peter. That will get you off to a good start. Eventual you'll adopt a sytematic reading of the whole Bible.

(5) Church Family

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God's family consists of people from all nationalities, education, social status, and walks of life. The common denominator is that they are all lovers of Jesus who have been genuinely "Born Again" by the power of God.

As you become a part of a local body of Believers there are a few things to keep in mind. God's people are not perfect, they're being perfected just as you now are. It's not wise to look for perfection but rather look for sincerity of heart. You need to be among people who genuinely care about your spiritual well-being. You need to be among people who believe the Bible to be God's Word. You need to be among people who have a passion to live their lives in obedience to the Word of God and the local church you choose to fellowship with should be passionate about reaching the lost for Christ. Finding your place in a local church is not always the easiest thing to do, however, as you seek God's will in prayer He will direct your path.

1Cor. 12:14-27 - Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. 15 If the foot says, "I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand," that does not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear says, "I am not part of the body because I am not an eye," would that make it any less a part of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything? 18 But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where He wants it. 19 How strange a body would be if it had only one part! 20 Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. 21 The eye can never say to the hand, "I don't need you." The head can't say to the feet, "I don't need you." 22 In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary. 23 And the parts we regard as less honorable are those we clothe with the greatest care. So we carefully protect those parts that should not be seen, 24 while the more honorable parts do not require this special care. So God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity. 25 This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. 26 If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. 27 All of you together are Christ's body, and each of you is a part of it.

(6) Renewing of the Mind

2009-02-01T04:29:00.000-08:00

When I gave my heart to Christ I was so aware of certain dramatic changes. I had such an incredible inner peace that is simply beyond my ability adiquity describe. What I wasn't aware of was the difficulty I would experience in my mind. I feel it's important to be understand that the initial "Born Again" experience is God powerfully coming into the human spirit creating within it a whole new person with the potential of pleasing God. 2 Cor. 5:17 - This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! Everything is new!

Even though the initial salvation powerfully the human heart immediately what is not so immediately effected is the mind. This is an area of life that God has chosen to change in cooperation with and in involvement of the Believer. It is an area of life that MUST be renewed.

The human mind is our computer system, one that comes preprogramed and one that is being constantly receiving updates and upgrades from both the world in which we live as well as from powers of darkness which presently manipulate it. Col. 1:21 - This includes you who were once far away from God. You were His enemies, separated from Him by your evil thoughts and actions.

To renew the mind requires a reprogramming, an upgrade that is only available through God's eternal Word. As New Covenant Believers God has promised to write His Word in our mind. (Heb. 8:10) This process requires our personal involvement. As we are reading God's Word He is in the process of rewriting our mind's hard drive. The more we make Bible reading a consistent discipline the freer the Lord is to transform the way we think.

Rom. 12:2 - Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. This is an ongoing process which requires our personal involvement on a daily basis. It's an integeral part of the spiritual growth process that has started in your life. As time progresses you will find that your thinking grows more in tune with God's ways. You will experience greater peace of mind as you choose to apply God's principles in your life.