Welcome to ‘The ride’, A series of where I share my personal experience with following God and hope to provide encouragement through it. Part 1 of 3
First Part of ‘The ride’ series.
The beginnings to your new life following Christ.
Disclaimer
Welcome! I am hope that you either heard about this site and adventure from someone else or you are just now accepting Jesus into your life. First thing is first, repenting of your old ways and then accepting God’s love in your heart and his forgiveness as well. These are the first steps after acknowledging him and asking him to come into your life and change what he needs to change. If you are already questioning whether or not he will accept you based off of your past or that you have a messy situation, let me stop you there. The messier the situation the more of him you will see. I say this because you will see his work more abundantly as he, our loving Heavenly Father, cleans up the mess around you; most people want to wait until they have everything organized and ready for them to accept Jesus, but he will and wants to meet you right where you are. Come to him as you are and watch as he cleans up everything around you and have faith and relax and stay out of his way. Some things may hurt as he is healing you and cleaning up the mess but that is ok, is he not our father? Will he not comfort you in the process? He will take care of you and your needs for it is said in multiple chapters throughout the New Testament to not worry about of lives for he is in control, nothing can surprise God in anyway not even your previous life.
Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Matthew 6:25-30
Luke 12:22-28
Matthew 6:25-30
Numerous times mentioned throughout the bible, both Old and New Testament, we see God, our heavenly Father’s, character of taking care of his beloved children and the intimate relationship he desires with each and every single one of them. He walked the garden with Adam and Eve, he spoke to Moses as a bush to save his people, he gave instructions to the family of Levites that he would speak to them to speak to the others, he always remained faithful to everyone despite of their opposition. God wants a relationship so badly with us and to live with that he sent his one and only son down not to condemn us to Hell but to save us from it by the dripping of his blood and nailing on the cross, that’s how badly he wants a relationship with us.
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17
Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior didn’t come here to say we are all done for and we are not going to where God promised us, but instead through the shedding of his blood and taking on every single sin that will ever happen and that did happen, he was separated from God and then reunited at the right hand of God the father. In this, Jesus made it possible so that anyone could come to God, this is important since back then, only high priests and pharisees could enter God’s presence, however that changed as shown below.
At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom… Matthew 27:51
You no longer need a high-ranking status to speak to God, you only need a genuine heart, your issues, your brokenness, and your realization that you need him. He calls for those who are weary, tired, broken, sad, and so on to go to him and to give him our burdens and in exchange he will give us his love, forgiveness, and the rest that our souls desperately desire and require. You might say “doesn’t he require us to do his will and work on it until we die?” and the answer is yes. However, us resting in him doesn’t mean we are doing it all alone; this shows that we rely on him when we can’t figure things out or even if we can. Yes, he wants us to and requires us to work on the will he is calling us to do, but that doesn’t mean you won’t have resting days or periods of rest, in fact, when you give your life to him, he might just tell you to do nothing.
Doing nothing does sound good, who wouldn’t want to do nothing? I don’t mean though for ever, he will start asking you and requiring you to do some things that are part of your calling, however at first though, nothing may seem to change, or he might have you do nothing at all. In this period of time, God himself is changing things; you may not see or feel them, but he is changing your desires, your ideas, your hobbies, and may be eventually your surroundings. We are told numerous times to trust him and have faith within and we are promised by God himself that God will finish the good work he started within us until the day of Christ – Philippians 1:6. This simply means that the work he starts within us of changing our old ways, helping us do the will he has and so forth is not our responsibility to change, God himself is changing us and giving us strength through The Holy Spirit to do what is pleasing to him. God will not abandon us to figure out how to live a holy life nor to leave us to our own devices, he will be right with us the whole way and process guiding us, comforting us, leading us, and most importantly talking and protecting us from anything that could harm us.
In conclusion, when starting this new life of following God and accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, many and many things will change out time. Do not rush God’s timing for there is a perfect time for everything and God will make everything happen in due time, so trust him and know he has your best interest at his heart and always remember, he is with you. This is part 1 out of 3, part 2 will be soon. Until then may God our Father bless you and keep you safe, Amen!