What is Next?
..The following building blocks will help you to receive ALL of the benefits of a Believer
|
The
following building blocks will help you to receive all the benefits of a
new believer. 1. Build a Relationship with Jesus:
Get
to know the Lord and His Voice!
The first thing we need to do is
build a relationship with the Lord; that will produce a “Christ like”
atmosphere and that atmosphere radiates out of us into a needy world (and
church). The world needs to
see an atmosphere that produces hope and possibility.
The world doesn’t need to hear what we have to say, as much as
they need to be drawn into the radiated glory (the atmosphere) that comes
out of the relationship you’ve built with the Lord and His Word.
We can then say as the Apostle Paul said “And
my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom,
but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.”
(1 Cor. 2: 4) To
produce this atmosphere we need to know His voice.
Jesus said in John 10: 27-30 “My
sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give
them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone
snatch them out of My hand. My
Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able
to snatch them out of My Father's hand.
I and My Father are one."
Jesus is saying that they HEAR His voice.
We
have the ability to hear from the beginning, but accuracy comes from
maturing in God’s Word and developing an intimate relationship with the
Lord. You need to believe from the beginning that it is your right and
responsibility to hear the voice of the Lord.
This comes from spending time building a relationship with Him and
His Word (the Bible). As you build a relationship with Him your love for Him will
grow. Your trust in Him will
also grow. Yes, at first you
may miss it now and then, but God wants you to keep trying.
Many are afraid of hearing a wrong voice, well, that’s what the
Word of God is for, and also the witness of the Holy Spirit.
Fred Price says “That if you have a high Word level you have a
low deception level; but if you have a low Word level you will have a high
deception level.” They
work together, the Holy Spirit and the Word develop you in relationship
with the Lord, out of that relationship, and an atmosphere of ministry
comes to the world. A
good book on that subject is “The Dynamic Duo; The Holy Spirit and
You” by Rick Renner
printed by Creation House. 2. Be diligent in God's Word
There
is a reason Satan is so determined to steal the Word before it takes root
in your heart. "And these are the ones by the wayside where the word
is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word
that was sown in their hearts. (Mark 4: 15)
Satan is going to do anything he can to disrupt, distort,
discourage, and dishearten you as you read and develop.
But, the Word of God says: “ Therefore
submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you”.
(James 4:7) That Word will
cause you to grow in power, faith and authority. As
newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow by
it. In
1 Peter 2:1-3 it says “Therefore,
laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil
speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may
grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”
In this respect, a brand new Christian isn’t any different than a
newborn baby. Both must eat in order to grow and gain strength. Once your
spiritual growth and development begins, the new life that is yours in
Christ through faith will begin to open to you. Before long the memory of
your old life will begin to seem to fade away. You'll wonder how you
could've lived without the joy that is available to you through this new
birth in Jesus. Just be sure
to be diligent in your study of God's Word and then spend lots of time
listening to the Lord. He's your source of nourishment and joy.
Get around people that believe that whatever the Word says, it is
your Covenant right to have. 3. Getting
to know who you are in Christ!
You
are what you allow in (Matt. 12:34 and Luke 6:45).
If you don’t study scripture and spend Quality time with Jesus,
then the old things that once had you will start taking over again. The
Word of God says, 2 Cor. 5:17 “Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away;
behold, all things have become
new.”
The issue here is that the hardest job God has is to get you to
renew your mind so you start to think and act like Him.
Many will say that’s not possible, but is it read Eph.5:1, 1 John
2:20 and Eph. 5:17. There
is a principle in the scriptures called “In Christ realities” and
“the past tenses of God”.
These teach that if you get into your heart, who you are in Christ
and what He has already paid for at Calvary, your whole perspective on who
you are and who God is will change. They
will have terms such as “in Him”, “in Whom”, “by Whom”, “who
has” or anything that shows what Christ already did for you through His
blood on Calvary. You see, He sealed a better covenant (Heb.7:22 and
Heb.8:6). Ephesians,
Philippians and Colossians are especially filled with your identity in
Christ and the past tenses of God. Study
these; pay attention to them, as they show you what and who you are by His
blood. If you can get a
person to understand who they are in Christ they will become victorious.
If they don’t, they will wallow around in their problem for
years, until they receive in their hearts “who they are in Christ”. 4.
Don’t live beneath your privileges & responsibilities
Most
Christians are "living far beneath their privileges &
responsibilities." What do I mean by that? I'm referring to the fact
that as born-again believers we have inherited enormous rights and
privileges. We're joint heirs with the King of Kings!
If you’re an heir to a King then you’re royalty, right? Read in
Galatians 4: 7 “Therefore
you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God
through Christ.” Also
read 1 Peter 2: 9 “But you are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special
people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of
darkness into His marvelous light.” So many believers are
content to barely go through life like lowly beggars, consoling themselves
in the knowledge that they'll go to heaven eventually and then everything
will be better. You don't have to live that lie. Jesus said He came to
bring you abundant life in John 10:10.
Jesus said that if you received Him into your heart, you’d have
Eternal Life. My
question is when does “Eternal” start?
It started at time you received Jesus into your heart (Matt. 6: 10 “Your
(the Lord’s) kingdom come. Your (the Lord’s) will be done on
earth as it is in heaven”).
As you find out what Jesus paid for, for you on the Cross-of
Calvary; like redemption, health, prosperity, deliverance, and peace.
You need to believe what the Word of God says about you, we are
believers, which means we believe what God’s Word says. 5. Does this mean there will be no more problems?
Don't make the mistake of thinking all your problems will instantly
vanish the moment you accept Jesus into your heart. Read James 1: 2-4 it says “My
brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that
the testing of your faith produces patience.
But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect
(mature) and complete, lacking nothing”.
Scripture clearly shows here that God’s ultimate goal is
maturity. The Lord said to me
one day “many of my children are going around wanting to be blessed, but
if they would submit to Me and learn from Me, they would see as they
mature, blessings naturally come. Many
new Christians see God's promises in the Bible and assume they can simply
float around on a "faith cloud." The Bible makes it very clear that we have a real enemy to
contend with in this life. Be
sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion,
walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
(1
Peter 5:8) It is vital that
new believers recognize that they have an enemy who is out to steal the
Word from their hearts. Jesus
died to redeem you from sickness, oppression and poverty; but satan will
try to come against you to steal the Word in your heart.
But if you'll refuse to listen to the devil’s lies and stand firm
on God's Word, you'll rise above every circumstance.
This is the most important fact a new believer needs to be aware
of; that satan's favorite and most insidious tactic is to steal the Word
from your heart. Jesus
exposed this method in the parable of the sower and the seed.
"And
these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear,
Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their
hearts. (Mark
4: 15, also read Matthew 13:18,19) 6. Find a good Bible believing
Church Family! It is vitally important for your growth that you start right. Seek God 1st and find a Church that will not train you up in its religious doctrines, but in the Word of God and His love and acceptance for you. Also, in Hebrews 10: 24-25 it says “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” In the TLV (The Living Version) it says it like this-“24 In response to all he has done for us, let us outdo each other in being helpful and kind to each other and in doing good. 25 Let us not neglect our church meetings, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near.” God is building families that truly believe and pray for one another, strengthen one another, and support each other. A family, that as you are maturing, if you make a mistake, they will strengthen and believe for you, not criticize you. Find
a church that will teach, train and impart into you whatever the Word of
God says. |
Go to the "What We Believe" page to find out more!