“Fear not, for I am with thee.”
What does it mean to be a Believer?
I hope that by reading my daily blog posts you will get an idea of what it is to be a believer from a day-by-day, real world perspective. But here's a summary of what I think it means overall...
Believing in God, trusting Him, and accepting that Jesus is your Savior is the ultimate in rewarding experiences. How is it so rewarding? What does it mean to be a Believer? Let me tell you...
Believers are never alone. Believers are full of God's love and He hears their prayers. Believers are forgiven for their sins and walk every day with the most powerful love ever known: The Love of our Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ. He is always by our side. We can talk to him through good times or bad. And because we have developed a mature and close relationship with Him, we know what His voice sounds like when He answers our prayers.
There is nothing like the Holy Spirit swelling inside your chest, creating that dizzy, euphoric feeling throughout your entire body. It cannot be anticipated or explained to anyone who hasn't felt it. I want to share that with everyone.
Believers know that we are not perfect and never will be. We make mistakes everyday. We are unworthy of God's unending love for us and we are unworthy of Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. And we thank God everyday for having the grace to give these gifts to us in spite of our failing to measure up. Our lives are not suddenly transformed into cakewalks because we believe. But dealing with the difficulty in our lives is much easier because we are not doing it alone; God is with us. And we know that we can let the burdens of our failures fall away in the love and grace of Christ Jesus.
Believers love to serve others and delight in the freedom that serving others provides to us. Believers do not fear that which should not be feared. Believers in Christ are the strongest people you will ever meet. And true Believers, devoted to God and sincerely walking with Christ, give freely of themselves to others.
Believers are not deceived into thinking that we are in control. We know that God, our Father, is in control and that we can call on him for his help at any time. We know that we don't have to live this life alone.
And we know that when we take our last breath in this life, we will enter eternal life in a place with shades of never-ending happiness and hues of glorious wonder that our worldly minds cannot begin to comprehend. And this Kingdom will have no end.
That's what it means to be a Believer.
But is it simple or quick to become a Believer? I think for most people the answer is no. Here is my attempt to discuss how God is working in my life. My sincere hope is that you will see some parallel here on this site, big or small, that will spark something in your mind...and your soul. And I further hope that whether you are already walking with Christ or are just checking Him out, this parallel will grow into a mature and close relationship between you and Christ.
I invite you to look around these pages.
Read my daily blog or browse the archives. After you've read the Daily Bible Verse and Blog Post, maybe check out the Book, Literature & Links page. Finally, go to the Music page and read and listen to what's there.
Before you leave the site for the day, do one last thing:
Minimize the site, and let the Player provide inspirational worship music for you in the background while you work at your computer, desk, or around the house.
Whatever you do, remember this site is for YOU.
A little Personal Background...and What I'm Striving For Here
First of all, I don't believe that this site should be a substitute for attending a good church. Christ wants us to worship as a church family, meaning 2 or more people worshiping and glorifying God. Of course, I'd rather a non-believer or a struggling believer come to this site than do absolutely nothing else. But I want to stress that for my purposes, this site is a supplement to your church, not a substitute for it. I belong to a wonderful church with a terrific pastor and supportive Christ-centered ministries. If you want to hear more about my church, send me an email to the address to your left. I would love to share it with you.
Now on to business...
I was raised as a Catholic. Baptized, communion, confirmation. And I had a strong faith as a Catholic and I'm grateful to my parents for instilling those values in me. I had a relationship with God, that despite being indoctrinated in "religion", was a pretty healthy and verbose relationship. I prayed a lot. My childhood and teens years were good because I had that relationship with God. Then I hit 18 and went to college. From that point in my life until I was 27, I was pretty much without God. I even doubted that God existed for a long while. And life was tough. Man was it ever tough.
When I was living without Christ, I made decisions without remorse or second thought. But then something turned in me around 26. I began to feel something that made me think twice about sin. Made me ponder what effect my decisions were going to have on my life here on earth, and if it existed, a life after my death. I began to reflect on everything I had heard about God or Jesus...and then I wanted to know more. I actually started reading the Bible for myself (Catholics don't do that in church).
What I discovered, despite how much more fulfilling my life became with God in it every day, is that walking that narrow path is difficult. The flip side, however, is that difficult as it may be to follow Christ's example, the fruits of this new path you will walk are worth every worldly sacrifice you make along the way. I couldn't stop reading the Bible, as confusing as it may be to a lay reader.
Besides, is anything worth having easy to obtain? I don't think so. It is the same for a mature and educated relationship with God. It is the most beneficial thing I have ever taken part in, yet it takes a strong, informed, solid faith to nurture that relationship. And nurturing that relationship requires acts representative of that faith. No, I don't believe you can "work" your way into heaven by being a good person. The only way to eternal life or "heaven" is through Jesus. Check out the quote up on the left of this page. What I do believe is that faith without acts is dead faith. But these are all things I will discuss as the days go by on the blog.
I don't have straight answers to your questions. I am not an ordained minister. My education, though advanced, is not in theology. I am in no way exercising any authority or edge here. In fact, I encourage anyone reading the pages on this site to interact with me, through either concordance or disagreement. Post a comment or email me if you really like or dislike something I have said. Offer me constructive criticism. I'll accept any of these because I know that I'm just a believer who has been called by God to act as one of his witnesses. And it's my opinion that every believer will need some guidance from fellow believers here and there.
And by the way, I have chosen this website as my major outlet to witness because I am a skilled writer. I feel I can use my own witnessing in a written form to help others learn something about being a Christ follower. However, if you're here for blatant answers about Biblical academia, prophecy, or the like, there are many, many other sites on the web offering such information. This site is merely my testimony.
What is it then that should lead you to read further, bring you back for another visit tomorrow?
It's a walk with Christ. Specifically, this site is my walk with Christ, taken from my head, pulsed into my fingers, and sprayed across these pages out into the world. You will read that I am a sinner. God knows that I have screwed up time and time again and I will continue to screw up despite my best efforts to Glorify Him.
You will read about my sins. You will learn things about me that most people don't dare tell others. And through that, my hope is that you will begin to learn things about yourself, and how God's unique plan for you, through Christ, will save you. Think God doesn't have a plan for you? Think again. He knows how many hairs are on your head. He knew you before you were contrived. Sound silly? I know, you want proof. Well, I can't give you something tangible you can hold.
Believing in God requires faith. And faith is something that grows at a different rate and manner for each person. Faith is so special because it has to be genuine. Just as He created this splendid world in which we live, God knows your heart.
Reader, I am just like you. I once used my educated mind to fall in line with those who believe God was created by man to instill morals, values, laws for society, and hope in the face of so much strife on the earth. I truly believed it for some time. But then my eyes were opened. Not by what someone said to me. But by things that happened to me. Things that just couldn't be explained as coincidence or by the natural order of the earth.
It was then that I began to realize there was more to God. But by that time I had made many decisions I thought were unforgivable. And I thought that God, that Christ, was done with me because of what I had become.
I was wrong.
Don't just read what I've written. Comment on what your are feeling. Let me know if you have the same experiences, hurts, desires, and regrets. But look deeply at what this site provides when you do so.
When you believe in Him and trust Him, God answers your prayers, my friend. But He also knows your heart. You cannot fool Him. But once your heart is there with Jesus, the feeling of being loved and never alone is beautiful.
Remember, this is my walk with Christ. You may not be ready to take that step yet. I want you to feel comfortable, because I don't want you to leave and never come back. This site is for you to hopefully learn, through my life, what God is about and who Jesus Christ was on earth, and is now in Heaven.
Walk with me.
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