faith

Acceptance

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When it comes to true Christianity, the person that accepts it changes. They no longer think as they use to think. They no longer act as they use to act. Sure, a lot of how they use to be is still there. Their basic personality had not changed in most cases, but how they respond is different. What use to make them angry does not. What use to give them pleasure does not. Even though some aspect of the person you once knew is still seen on the outside by those about them, by those that knew you before you completed your change will make assumptions. Some in time will see the change and come to accept this change in you. But there will be those that do not. They will label you a hypocrite and a liar. They will feel betrayed and abandoned.
Sure, you want to make them understand, especially if they are someone you love, but you must come to realize that this many never happen.
There will be also those that try to tell you that you can still live the life you use to live. They will say sure you can still live exactly like you did before and you are still a Christian and going to heaven. This is not true. You will be tempted, but if the Bible states it is a sin. IT IS A SIN. If you are still early into your Christian faith it is at this time you should seek out and find a good Christian home.
In my own personal growth into Christianity, I sought this out in several large Churches. To my dismay, this actually turned out to be a slide in the wrong direction. It took me decades to find a church home I felt right in and it was a small church. These from further research I feel is the way to go. Do not seek out a church that has hundreds or even thousands that attend it. Seek out a church that at its max one hundred or less. These small churches will actually greet you and accept you as someone seeking to learn your faith and allow you to grow. Will answer your questions and help you address your problems of faith when they arise. This is better than a church of hundreds where you become lost within the faces and no one will be able to help you out, as you may need.
As you grow in your faith, you will change. Sure you will still feel like the person you were before you asked Jesus into your heart, but things that once didn’t bother you will. Especially as you read the Bible and come to understand the message within it, and whom the ultimate author of the Bible is, for even though it was written by man, they received their inspiration from the Holy Ghost. Who directed them to write down the words of God and no other faith can trace it origins back to the beginning of record history itself except the Judeo-Christian faith.

The dream that changed my life

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I was eighteen or nineteen at the time I had the dream that would change my life. It started me back down the right path in me even though I would not fully regain that path for another seven or eight years.
For the first time, since I was nine I had picked up the Bible and started to read it once again. When I finally fell asleep that night I encountered events I did not expect. I appeared before the throne of God that was so bright all I can say is that God sat upon it, but I could not get any details due to the extreme light. What words were said here are beyond me now to remember, but I do know that an angel appeared in front of God and was looking at myself and all the others that were with me. He was large and glowed but nowhere near the intensity coming from the throne, also no wings.
What I can say is that those with me and myself were given a task and in a blink I was gone from the presence of the Almighty and was floating in space above a planet. Darkness was all about save for the light coming from a sun. I leaned forward and began to fly down to the planet then over its barren surface as those that were just with me a few moments before God were doing the same.
With just a thought and an action from my hands the surface of the world changed into that of a living and habitable world.
Then I heard words, but these words I do remember unlike the ones from before the throne of God.
“Serve Me and this you can do as My servant.”
After I returned to God and accepted His Son Jesus as my Savior, I had other dreams as well, but none placed me before the throne of God ever again.

Growing faith

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A recurring theme throughout my life has been the desire to respect others. Sure, some parts of my personality can be a thorn to some, but who amongst us can say that is not true for any person. In my early teens, I allowed my peers to turn my heart to hardness. This lasted until I was in my mid-twenties. One thing that I know marked these years was the mere fact that I had become selfish and self-serving.
When I became born again at twenty-six the man, what I should have been came back into existence. A man that God knew and recognized. (See my post “Overwhelming sin” to understand what I meant by this statement). The man returned to what the boy I had been before I allowed my peers to turn me into what I had become in the dark years.
I learned to give into my desires and wants in those years. I allowed myself to listen to only myself. Not caring if I hurt people. Many of these people were girls and women, especially when I turned eighteen.
Regret is one thing that has crossed my mind more than once over the last quarter of a century plus. Sometimes this regret causes me to do things that help others. Then there are times this regret has made me avoid situations out of fear they may be a repeat of something from my past that I do not wish to go through again. I feel these regrets are due to me trying to think of others before myself.
Too many times in the Bible we are told be humble, placing others before ourselves. The emphasis is too poignant that true faith requires humility, thus selflessness. When you are selfish, you are not acting for God. When thinking of your own desires no matter how little or big you have placed yourself before others.
I really think it is in all of us to be humble. I know I was humble when I was a child and had forgotten it due to pain and humiliation. How I returned to it is where free-will comes into play. I felt wrong from my behavior. I felt more guilt as I became more selfish. I do not know if others experience this and hide it, but it allowed me to face myself and realize this is not what God wanted for me or us for that matter. So I chose through the act of free-will to return to what I was taught in my youth.
I know I am not perfect. No human can ever be perfect. I know I have overcome sins that would have turned me into someone other then what I am. I know not only that it was God, but an inner strength that has allowed me to grow into the man I am today. Where did I get this inner strength? From my trials I have face throughout my life. Without these trials, I feel I would in no way be the man I am today.
All I do know is that the man that types these words today is in fact someone who deserves to be call a man, since there is a difference between being male and being a man. It is by God and for God that I am here, and I praise Him for that.

Your mission if you should choose to accept it………… this message will never destruct especially not in 5 seconds

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One thing that gets to me is this mentality within religions is that if you are not of this certain religion or come dressed into their place of worship a certain way you are something to be looked down upon. Jesus faced this same problem when he walked upon this earth in ancient Israel. It is something that I see everywhere and in every religion.

It is also wrong.

Jesus challenged the Pharisees over this behavior. Their reaction was to have Him hung upon a cross. They did not know that was his plan all along. Nor did they know He would rise from the dead three days later.

One of the main things Jesus taught and showed was that those of the faith should not sit in their little groups and hide from the world. They should not be looking down upon the world, thinking themselves better than others. That is not how it is meant to go.

Yes, there is a time when you need to stay within the church. This time is when you first come into your faith. Most have no idea what the Bible says. Therefore, they need to read it and be taught by those that have more knowledge then they do at that moment of the teaching of God and His Son.

We are not meant to stay there forever though. We are meant to become strong in the Word and our faith and then we are meant to go into the world and show the love of Jesus to others.

Too many times, I see titles to other blogs that are exclusionary. There are Bible verse; they say things like how to separate yourself from the world and other things that turn those not fully aware of God away. They see these posts and run away from God instead of toward Him.

Jesus walked amongst the sinners. He dined with them. Talked to them and taught them of the love of His Father. He was ridiculed for doing so. His reply was that they needed Him more than those that had already found God did.

If your feet are shod in the Word and you show your faith through kindness and caring. If you desire to walk among those of the world; then do it. We are the body of Jesus here on earth. If we do not share our faith by example; then many of these will have never seen what true believe and faith in something that is intangible to them, in most cases.

There is evidence that many have never even read the Bible. Especially in today’s world with the removal of God from the schools and from other places that were once available for all to see.

Don’t be a member of the religious clicks, be the Christian you were meant to be the day you knelt down and asked God into your heart and mind.