October-December, 2016
At the present time in this earth’s history, it is possible to live as a Christian, in a lot of areas, without physical persecution for our beliefs.
Do we really understand what a privilege this is to be able to go through each day without worrying for our life? Or any time we are inside our houses we never have to worry about getting a knock on the door, and when we open it to be immediately arrested and taken to prison, abused, tortured, and the like?
Do you think we really need Christ in our comfortable life today?
How many of us are in the routine of getting up every morning and going to work, coming home in the evening, eating, spending time with our families/friends, doing our own thing, having a short reading for worship, then going to sleep and repeating this day after day, year after year? May I ask those who don’t have families to provide for:
Do you know why you are doing this?
What is the reason you go to work?
Why do you want to earn money?
For What are you using this money?
On Whom are you spending the money?
Do you know why you are doing this?
I used to wonder, when reading the story of the Israelites and the history of their nation, how they could forget God and not feel the need to follow His leading and plans for their lives. I always thought that if I lived back then, I would have lived my life exactly as He said and done everything He required without any question!
The reality is, sad to say, I would have done exactly what the Israelites did. The fact is they became too comfortable with their life. They started forgetting about Christ and lost their need of Him. Satan gradually tipped the scales until finally they slid all the way to the bottom without even realizing it.
I believe Satan has finally mastered his evil plan of getting people to put God out of their lives. He used the “gradual” method for years with the Israelites, then after Christ came to earth and stirred people up and reminded them of what true Christianity was, for hundreds of years Satan lost his temper and vented his anger with no disguise on everyone who believed in God. Finally he came to his evil senses and realized it wasn’t actually working in his favor, so he stopped being so outwardly violent. He went to work on an architecture design, instead of a contractor design, and his rate of success has flown to the top of his chart.
We are being a part of Satan’s figures on his chart by being so wrapped up in our lives that our Christian experience is becoming simply a routine. It is just something that is a part of our lives but isn’t really the main focus. We thank God for all His blessings when we come to prayer meeting and on Sabbath. We pray to God and ask for help with this and that. Do we really mean it, though? Are the prayer requests mentioned at prayer meeting on our mind constantly and do we really care about the outcome of them all?
How can we make our Christian experience the main focus of our life? How can we make Christ our best Friend and get to know Him the way Enoch and Moses did? How can we get off Satan’s chart and get on Christ’s chart?
Here are a few simple steps, that I find help me understand that Christ is very real and that He is right beside you at all times:
Talk to God in your mind (or out loud if you are by yourself) all day long, every day. Just try it and put reminders on your phone if you find yourself forgetting. This simple step helps Christ to become real to you instead of just a Being way up past the clouds and sky.
When big decisions come up and you are not sure which way to go, just pray to God and ask Him to shut or open whichever door He chooses for you.
This is something that does take a lot of faith, but from experience always remember that God loves tests. And His favorite test is the Patience Test, which He performs by waiting till the last minute before showing you which path He wants you to take.
If you think you have received no answers, then just tell God that you are going to take a certain path, and if He doesn’t want you going that way, then to stop you somehow. If nothing comes up to stop you, then just keep right on and trust that it is the way He wants you to go.
Never think that there are choices or circumstances that are too hard for God, or that God wouldn’t be interested, or that you are bothering God too much with so many little things. If God can be bothered to know how many hairs are on your head and how many stars and solar systems are in the sky, then I am sure He can be bothered in listening to all that you have to tell Him all day long, every day, all night if you want to and every night!! I confess I underestimate His abilities at times and need constant reminding of what He is capable of.
Read the Bible every day. You can download Bible reading plans on your mobile phones, or you can find a Bible that has a plan in the back of it and make it your habit to read it every day.
Friends, this is God talking back to you. Listen to Him and to what He is saying. It is a letter God has written to you. What you can do in some verses you might be reading is to replace the person He is talking to with your name. This helps to make it even more real to you.
These are just a couple of steps that really helped me to realize that Christ is very real and that He truly is a “Friend that sticketh closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24)!
If you have other ways or ideas, put them to use. Experiment. Know and understand why you want a friendship with Christ.
Here is a story about the first time I prayed for something and God answered my prayer. It happened a few years ago when one of my close friends had to move away.
A couple of months passed and my friend invited me to come and visit. I had never driven that far by myself before, and it was a big thing for me to go. I really wanted to go but I had high doubts that my parents would let me. I was only 17 and had not had my driver’s license for very long.
So I thought to myself that I would go past my parents and pray to God and see if He thought it was okay for me to go. If He didn’t want me to go, then He would stop me. But I told God that Him stopping me was not to be my parents saying “No.” It had to be something or some circumstance that I couldn’t wheedle my way around or get past in any way. (My parents were actually okay with me going after all that.)
I made my plans and got ready for the trip.
A week or two before the trip, I was at work and one of the girls reminded me of a seminar that I had to attend that work had booked me into, along with another couple of girls from work. I checked the dates and it fell on that very weekend I had planned to go on this trip, which meant I wouldn’t be able to go. I was VERY furious and I argued with the girl and tried to see if there was anyone I could swap with or any way to get out of this, but to no avail. I stormed out of the room very upset.
Later on, as I was sitting at my desk I suddenly thought I should pray to God to see if He could fix this problem so that I could go. In that instance my original prayer flashed into my mind, that this was exactly what I had asked God for if it wasn’t His will for me to go. And he had answered it exactly how I asked. It wasn’t my parents saying no. And it wasn’t something I could get around and still go.
My anger swiftly subsided and I felt so ashamed of my behavior. I apologized to God and the girl for my bad mood and I told my friend it wasn’t God’s will that I come this time.
This made me realize that so many times when we pray to God, we think we get no response. The truth is, we do get a response. We either forgot our request or we just never realized the answer when He gave it to us.
So the question I now ask myself and you is: Do we need Christ as our personal Friend/Saviour? Do we want Christ as our Friend/Saviour?
Let us ask God right now to come into our hearts. He is waiting right outside the door to come in. See Revelation 3:20. Believe it. Dare to bring Him right in and see what wonders He will make of your life. From now on and throughout the rest of your lives till Christ comes in glory, dare to ask, “What Would Jesus Do?” in every transaction of your life, and dare to do what Jesus would do in every transaction of your life!
May God bless you richly!