So you've decided to start pursuing an active relationship with Jesus as your personal saviour, and it's working out for you. You made that critical decision to accept the love of God into your life and live for Jesus. People celebrated you. They gave you a Bible. They told you to read it and pray. And then they sent you into a world that doesn't care about your life changing decision or support it really. We live in a time when it seems more acceptable to declare yourself a follower of any religion, ology or ism as long as it isn't Christianity.
To me, Christianity is a faith. Religion has rites and prescriptions. Jesus also has instructions that He has given, namely to love my neighbor as myself, and to love the Lord God with all my being. All of the other questions can be answered by those two commandments.
I'm sorry if you never got a crash course on what it means to really live as a Christian. In case you didn't, I'm going to give you one here, so it can no longer be the reason why you stay on the sidewalk bleeding.
Read your Bible.
That seems pretty evident, but you'd be surprised how many people just don't open the Bible between Sundays. Where do you start? You could start in the beginning, Genesis. By the time you get to who begat who, you might just want to give up (no offence to chronological readers!) . With the Internet, scripture verses organized by theme or topic with commentary are available at the touch of a finger. (More about using commentaries later.)
Instead of random readings, why not search for topics that are relevant to your life, that you actually want to know what God has to say about it? You could also sign up for a devotional, or download a reading guide app. The main thing is that you continue to read the Bible- it's like a mandatory multivitamin. After you read, think about what you read. Is it a historical event or a parable? At what point in the story have you begun reading? What can be learned about the kind of "person" or "characteristics" of God from what you read today? Who are the human beings in the text? Can you relate to how they feel or think? I'm just getting warmed up!
By the way, every day you should try to read something from the Old Testament (OT) and something from the New Testament (NT). Some people stay in the NT because they can't deal with the judgement of God in the OT. It is true that we are saved by grace, and are no longer under the law, but it is important to know 1) our history in relation to God's children; 2) who God is, and how He demonstrated himself to those who loved and did not love him and 3) the events and prophecies that lead to Jesus' coming.
Keep track of what you read. It doesn't have to be detailed, I know some of you aren't big on journalling, but at least write down the date, what you read and what are your takeaway thoughts. There are many online studies that you can join, and I recommend just following the reading schedule, not really interacting with others until you've spent some time in the Bible for yourself. Interpretations of scripture range from solid to super shaky, and online, you don't necessarily know what is what. What I do appreciate is that they often have a good reading schedule that isn't too heavy. (In the same way, I want to caution you about commentaries. It is good to know what people have said about the scriptures, but especially in the beginning, I want you to read the Bible yourself, and start thinking about what those daily readings say to you. To be even more specific, I want you to see what God is saying to you. That's right! He will speak to you through your readings by drawing your attention to certain things, and as you reflect on the questions you will learn more about Him.)
Final note: There are people who claim that they read the Bible cover to cover, and it did nothing for them. There is a reason: if the reading is not approached with the desire to understand God's heart, to draw near to Him, to live for Him, the Bible alone will not have the same impact. There are others who, when they want to hear from God, close their eyes, open the Bible up to a random place that his/her finger falls, and that verse is supposed to be for YOU. This nonsense is divining, and you must not do it. Mostly likely, you will get a verse about someone being smote (killed by God), which will start your imagination going, and next thing you know, you're all mixed up and heading back towards driving that car! You will become discouraged. Structured reading, consistently will allow you to know what God wants you to do. Which leads to the next point.
Pray every day.
Now this is another one that we assume people know how to do when they just start out on this walk with God. "Well, it's like talking... just talk to God." So you do just that, but then you wonder why it is when people are called on to pray publicly, they seem to talk to God with special words that flow like poetry. It will make you doubt that your prayers are heard or effective. It sometime discourages people from praying, because they feel like they can't do it right. Let me jump right in.
None of us would get into a relationship with a partner that rarely speaks. Too much time would be lost wondering what the other person was thinking. Believe me, God knows everything that you're thinking, but just like a partner, He wants you to tell Him. Marriage, like Christianity, is a covenant relationship: we are agreeing to live together in good times and bad, and to share in each other. Reading the Bible helps you know who God is and wants to be to you. Now it's your turn to tell Him what you think of Him and how you feel.
It's funny how we have no problem telling God what we think of Him when we're mad. True emotion breaks in and drives us. Our limited understanding of situations and circumstances causes us to sometimes jump to the conclusion that God somehow is responsible for whatever hasn't worked out. It's okay to do this, but only if you speak to Him regularly. You would not argue with someone you don't know in a passionate way, because there is the understanding that you have not established intimacy with this person. So some tips:
Talk to God every day... formally and informally. You can have a normal conversation with Him, where you think of Him as your friend or father. Tell Him you love Him! Use smilies and metaphors to describe that love. And if it's something you don't feel yet, keep telling Him how you want to know Him and love Him. It will come.
Learn the Lord's prayer (Our Father, who art in heaven) and pray it every day if you can. This is an example of a formal prayer. There are times when you need to approach God with the reverence of recognizing Him as your King and Creator. Think of how you might behave in the court of a King. The King gives audience to His people, to hear their petitions (requests) and make decisions concerning their lives. A general format to follow when you are talking to God is to Adore Him, Confess to Him, Thank Him for all that He has done for you, and make your requests known to Him (Supplication: first for others and then for yourself). The acronym is ACTS, feel free to Google it.
Final note: The more you read your Bible, the more you will have to say when you pray. You will remember the things that God did, the things that stood out to you, and you will speak to Him about those things.
Some people like to write out their prayers. There is nothing wrong with that. Some people like to use prayers that others have written. That's okay too. But the best prayers are the ones spoken in honesty, from your heart to God's ears.
There is one more important part of the Christianity 101... the part you probably don't want to hear about. Follow through to the next post.