Start Your New Life Today (22 page)
Once you become a Christian, you can still live your life being tormented by fears of all kinds unless you decide to live by faith. You must decide whether you will live in fear or in faith. You received Jesus as your Savior by faith; the next step is to learn to live by faith. It is the matter of the practice of making right choices, in other words, choosing faith in each situation that tries to bring fear to you. After you make the right choice, you may still feel fear trying to take you over, but despite the feeling, keep moving forward and taking the action corresponding with your decision.
Courage is not the absence of fear, but it is taking action in the presence of it. When God told His servants not to fear, He wasn’t commanding them not to feel fear; He was telling them to be obedient to Him no matter how they felt. God knows the spirit of fear will always try to keep us from making progress in our walk with Him. He reminds us over and over in His Word, He is always with us; He will not fail or forsake us, and we do not have to bow down to fear.
Eleanor Roosevelt said, “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”
Only faith pleases God. We receive from God through faith. It is of utmost importance for the new believer in Christ to learn about faith and begin walking in it. Developing strong faith is done just like developing strong muscles: you exercise your faith little by little and each time you do it gets stronger.
Matthew 17:20 teaches us that all things are possible to him who believes. Even little faith can move mountains of trouble in our lives. If you have spent your life trying to solve all your own problems and have often felt frustrated and disappointed, you are on the brink of a new experience. In inviting God to become involved in everything concerning you, you will find what is impossible with man is possible with God. According to our faith, it will be done for us (see Matthew 9:29).
If you have lived in fear, it is good to know you can begin exchanging fear for faith in God. Remember all this learning of new ways takes time. Don’t be discouraged and give up. Everything in the earth works according to the law of gradual growth. Little by little everything changes if we keep doing what God tells us to do. As we grow in understanding the depth of God’s love for us and the realization we have been made right with God through the death and resurrection of Jesus, little by little we find it easier and easier to walk in faith.
Enjoying Life
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any people have difficulty accepting this fact: They are free to enjoy their lives. The devil has done a good job of deceiving them. But the truth is Jesus came to free us from bondage; He came to give us the power to live life in abundance to the full, to the point of overflowing. It is God’s will for us to enjoy our lives. Not everything will go just as we would like; we will still have difficulties. But enjoying life does mean we can rise above the misery in the world and share a resurrected life through Jesus and through the power of the Holy Spirit. It means we can enjoy life even while we are having difficulty or challenges in our own lives.
People who think knowing God is only a relationship involving following a set of rules have no idea how wonderful life can be for the person living in true relationship with and for God. God is our real life. In Him we live and move and have our being. Learning to enjoy God releases us to enjoy every single day of our lives.
Enjoy fellowship with Him. God is concerned about anything that concerns you, and the Bible actually says God will perfect what concerns you. He is working in your life at all times, bringing you more completely into His will.
Don’t be afraid of God in a wrong way. It is true we should have a reverential fear of God, respecting Him and knowing He is all powerful and means what He says. But we should never be afraid of God becoming angry with us every time we make a mistake or of punishing us every time we fail to be perfect. God is merciful and slow to anger. He is long-suffering and knows our makeup. He understands our weaknesses and infirmities.
If you are like many other people, you have a number of areas in your life and personality needing change, and God will change them. But, the good news is you can enjoy God and enjoy your life while He is transforming those areas.
Although your life right now may not be the type of life you see for yourself in God, it is the only one you have at the present time. You need to start enjoying it! Find the good things in it. Accentuate the positive and learn to see the good in everything. Enjoy your family and friends. Don’t pick them apart and spend most of your time being very busy trying to change them. Pray for them and let God do the changing.
Enjoy your work, enjoy your home, and enjoy ordinary, everyday life. This is possible if you trust God and decide to have a good attitude. Keep your eyes on God and not everything wrong with you, your life, your family, and the world. God has a good plan for you, and He is already starting to work in you to transform you even though you may not yet be able to see outward results. Go ahead and rejoice ahead of time in looking forward to the good things to come.
Although your life right now may not be the type of life you see for yourself in God, it is the only one you have at the present time. You need to start enjoying it!
Most people live believing they cannot enjoy their lives as long as they have problems. This is wrong thinking and does not reflect the way God thinks. Don’t waste your life and energy dwelling on the mistakes or regrets of your past. Continue thinking about the great new future you have through Jesus Christ, and all He already has available to you, an inheritance you are only beginning to understand. You can enjoy whatever you decide to enjoy. You can enjoy sitting in a traffic jam if you decide to. Remember, this is a new way of thinking and living that God has for you to practice.
I finally learned to enjoy where I am while I am on the way to where I am going and I strongly urge you to do the same. There is much for God to do in your life for your benefit and for the benefit of those you know and influence, and He does not want you to be miserable while He is doing it. Just as babies must grow into adults, Christians must also grow. It is a process that often takes longer than we desire, but there is no point in not enjoying the journey.
Continuing to remind yourself God does not expect you to be perfect today will help you avoid spending days under guilt and condemnation after you make a mistake. God already knows you will never be completely perfect as long as you live on the earth. He does expect each of us to keep pressing on by sincerely doing our best every day to serve Him. When we keep practicing the new behaviors of our new way of thinking and living, we will eventually replace our old behaviors with the new ones as our lifestyle. Admitting our failures, asking for forgiveness for our sins, and being willing to turn from them is a big part. If we will do this, God will do the rest. He will keep working with us through His Holy Spirit. He will teach us, change us, and use us.
When you step out into a new way of living, I believe you will never be sorry. Enjoy God, enjoy yourself, and enjoy the life Jesus died to give you!
Your Body—Your Home, God’s Home
Your Body Affects Your Spiritual Life
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eceiving Jesus as your Savior or receiving a special touch from God may be a starting place, but then we need to grow in God. Spiritual growth is not always easy, but it is necessary. The Holy Spirit will guide us by helping us see the things that need to change in our lives. He will also help us by teaching us God’s Word if we will be diligent to study it. A Christian absolutely must learn the Word of God if they are going to enjoy the new life God has provided in Christ.
The Bible says if we continue in God’s Word we will be His disciples and we will know the truth and it will make us free (see John 8:31–32
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). The word “continue” is a key word in these verses. It is not what we do wrong once that messes up our lives and it is not what we do right once that fixes them. We must “diligently” seek God and then He rewards us (see Hebrews 11:6). If we continue to study God’s Word, we will be transformed into His image (see 2 Corinthians 3:18).
Growth is a process, not an event, and the sooner we realize that the more we can enjoy the journey. Unrealistic expectations are the root cause of much unhappiness. If we expect to receive Jesus as our Savior and have everything perfect right away, we are setting ourselves up for much disappointment. However, if we realize growth is a process and will take time, we are more likely to finish the journey.
As long as we are on earth we will always be changing and growing, and that is exciting to me. I am a goal-oriented person, meaning I always like to have something to look forward to. Spiritual growth can be exciting if we learn to look at it properly. When the Holy Spirit convicts you of some area in your life that needs to change, realize that is His way of showing His love for you. He wants us to improve and be the best we can be because He knows that every change we make to be more like Him will release new levels of joy into our lives.
As we study God’s Word, our eyes are opened to see things previously hidden in our lives. Things that were there all along, but we were blind to them. God’s Word is light, and we should never be afraid to live in the light.
When God shows us things that need to change in our lives, we should never feel condemned or ashamed. Remember that what you are seeing for the first time, God knew was there all along. God is not surprised by our faults, He knew all about them long before we did and He loves us unconditionally. We should be repentant, which means we are sorry for our sins and willing to turn away from them to a new way of living, but feeling guilty and condemned does no good at all. It actually presses us down and steals the energy we need to work with God for improvement.
When God brings something to light in your life that will need to be changed by His power, all He wants us to do is agree with Him and ask Him to change it. While God is changing us, His love remains the same. When our behavior improves, He does not love us any more than He ever did before.
It is difficult to be enthusiastic and passionate about anything if we feel tired all the time.
One of the things God will ultimately deal with every person about is how they take care of their body, because the body has a profound effect on the spirit. We should do everything we can do to be as healthy as possible. It is difficult to be enthusiastic and passionate about anything if we feel tired all the time.
It is a mistake to think God only deals with us about spiritual things. As I have said, we are a tri-part being—spirit, soul, and body—and all three are very important to God. He wants to work through our entire being. The apostle Paul prayed for the Ephesians that the Holy Spirit would fill their personalities (see Ephesians 3:16) and he also prayed that they would be bodies wholly filled with God Himself (see Ephesians 3:19). God is interested in our entire being, and we should be also.
There are many things that can contribute to poor health, but one of them is trying so hard to please people that we end up placing unreasonable stress on ourselves. We all have limits and that means we will have times when we need to say no. Anytime someone wants to hear yes and we tell them no, they probably won’t like it, but we must follow God, not man. Trying to keep all the people happy all the time is just too hard. If that is our goal in life, we will certainly wear ourselves out.
We all need to live with margins. That means we should leave time in between commitments for prayer, Bible study, rest, relaxation, and fun. If we merely run from thing to thing with no margin between, we will have poor personal relationships, poor health, and a poverty-stricken spiritual life.
I urge you to make a decision to live a balanced life and realize that every aspect of your being is vitally important. Take care of your spirit, mind, emotions, and body. It is not wrong to take care of yourself . . . it is God’s will for your new life!
Taking Care of Your Body—Get Some Sleep!
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aking care of our bodies is very important, because they are God’s house. There are several simple things we can do to ensure better health and increased energy. A nutritionist I work with said one of the most important things for any person to do in taking care of the body is to sleep seven or eight hours every night and drink lots of water. Some people mistreat their bodies by never getting enough sleep and eating excessive junk foods such as donuts, sodas, candy bars, and potato chips. Those same people when they get really sick usually pray and ask God for healing. God is merciful and He is our Healer, but He also expects us to live a balanced lifestyle and use common sense. Our bodies are a precious, marvelous gift from God, and we should respect them and take good care of them.
If we worry excessively, dwelling on problems instead of spending time thinking about God’s promises in His Word, we may experience a negative effect on our heath. Excessive, long-term stress of any kind eventually has an adverse effect on our bodies and can be the root cause of many diseases. We must understand that if we wear out our bodies, we don’t have a spare to pull out of a closet somewhere and use! We cannot drop them off at the local mechanic for a tune-up or go to the market and purchase a new one.
Your body is the house you and God live in while you are here on earth. It also houses your spirit and your soul. It is amazing to me how we sometimes disrespect something so important. I urge you to use common sense—sleep an adequate number of hours at night, eat the right amounts of good quality, healthy foods, find a way to get plenty of exercise, and laugh a lot because it relieves stress. I also urge you to make adjustments in your schedule so you have some margin in your life and don’t feel you must hurry constantly. As I said, your body is not only the temple of your spirit and soul, the house they dwell in while you are on this earth; it is God’s home as well. The Bible tells us our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit—He dwells in those who believe in Him (see 1 Corinthians 6:19). Mistreating God’s home certainly is not spiritual! God wants us set apart for His use, sanctified—spirit, soul, and body. “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23
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).