Well it's been a week and all I can say is WHY HAVEN'T I DONE THIS BEFORE!?
All my life, wise adults have told me "Jesus.Bible.Pray."... this is the conconction you need to live out the Christian life. "Well that just seems too simple," I would tell myself so I have tried to make my life with Christ something more complicated, TRYING hard to DO things for the Lord ON MY OWN and make the Christian walk something difficult and strenuous.
The crazy thing is that I've learned this week... living the Christian life IS SIMPLE. Let me explain...
1. Jesus- Our relationship with the Father all boils down to Jesus. He died on the cross to erase our sins so when God looks at us, He sees a pure and clean child whom He is able to have a personal relationship with. When we sin, we rely on the fact that Jesus already died to pay for ALL of our sins, in the past, present, and future. Everything we have done and will do is already erased. When we sin our connection with God is affected. This means when we try to interact with Him, our relationship is damaged and it's harder to hear from God. But once we accept Christ into our lives our relationship with Him isn't damaged. We are and always will be His child. It's kind of like if you were to go slap your father in the face. He would be very upset with you and he might ground you and your connection/interaction would be messed up for a while, but he is still your father and you are still his child. The relationship never changes.
ANYWAYS, when we mess up we just have to look to Jesus to forgive us. We are covered by God's surmounting grace so all we need to do is ask for forgiveness and know we are forgiven. We do need to turn away from that sin and remain close to God so we don't desire to do that sin again.
*IMPORTANT* But the thing is we are ALL messed up people. We sin EVERY DAY, even after we become believers. After we accept Christ, it's not about us trying to tidy up our lives so we are able to make a checklist and check off the "good things" we do. It's actually about being REAL, talking about our sin and struggles, and acknowledging Jesus is the only way we are able to reach God.
RELYING ON JESUS AND NOT OUR OWN EFFORTS IS WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT.
2. Bible- God wrote us a book so we would know His desire for our lives! It's His love story to us. All we need to know about Him and His will for our lives is in the Bible. Have you ever wondered "Hmm.. I don't really know what God's will is for my life." IT'S IN HIS WORD! Of course it won't specifically say "Well you're supposed to be a nurse. Go for it!" but God will speak to you when you're seeking Him earnestly through His word. We are to learn from the stories and advice in His word so we grow closer to Him.
Just in these past few weeks there have been 2 times specifically I can think of where I sat down and asked God to show me verses He wanted me to read to speak into a situation I was going through. A book and chapter in the Bible came to my mind, I opened the Word, and it was INCREDIBLE because both times I read verses that related exactly to the situations I was questioning God about. It was mind-blowingly awesome.
Picking up the Word and reading God's letter to you is the best way to learn from Him.
3. Pray- Question: if you want to get to know someone better and keep up with the relationship what does consist of? Communication! You have to talk to them to keep up with the friendship. It's the same with God. God wants to hear from you... what you're thinking, what you're stressed about, what you're excited about, why you're worried about this situation you're going through. He wants you to talk to Him about everything in your life. He also wants you to LISTEN. Sometimes it's the best thing to just sit in silence and asking God to speak to you. It's hard. It requires discipline, especially in our crazy, fast-paced world. Deuteronomy 4:29 says "But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul." If you are truly SEEKING the Lord, He will show himself to you, whether that's through your prayers, revealing a passage in the Bible, or someone giving you Godly wisdom.
When you keep up communication with someone, the relationship stays strong. Once you start cutting back on communication, the relationship slowly starts to deteriorate. This will happen when you try to remain close to God without talking and listening to Him.
Just try waking up a few minutes earlier to get on your knees and pray over your day, asking God to work in you that day, guiding your thoughts and actions to glorify Him. It will change your life!
So even though I always thought that Jesus, Bible, Pray was way too simple and keeping up my walk with God required so much more than that, honestly it starts with the basics. If you are relying on Jesus and knowing you can't do anything apart from relying on His love and grace, reading the Word, and praying constantly then you will have a strong connection/interaction with God.
I'm starting to rely on Jesus and not getting down when I mess up, but accepting His grace. I'm starting to read the Word more. And I've been praying every morning when I wake up and at night before I go to bed (and throughout the day) and it's been amazing how much closer I've been to God and how much easier it is for me to hear Him.
TRY IT.
KISS- Keep It Simple, Stupid.
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