Hey everyone! I pray that all is well and all will be well in your lives.
Per my post last week, the fundamentals of a Christian life are: prayer, reading the word and fasting. They are crucial and key for you to have a healthy and better relationship with Jesus.
Failure to do these or not doing them properly will stunt your growth and relationship with Christ: ultimately, you will either backslide or fall into self-righteousness. These posts are primarily aimed at those who are new in Christ, but I pray that they will edify and bless all who read them. If you are not saved/born again/redeemed, I pray that you would accept Jesus into your life. Believe in Him (that He is the son of God and died for your sins), admit to Him that you are a sinner, ask Him to forgive you, and ask Him to come into your heart/life.
If you’ve been following the blog, you will notice posts where I said I was saved in my teens and other posts where I said I wasn’t. I backslid at the age of 22 after being saved and filled with His Spirit for 7 years. I backslid primarily because I wasn’t doing the fundamentals. In fact, I had been warned several times that I needed to pray and fast, because I was slipping away. At the time, I was going through some very deep personal issues, but I shut God out. I let my mind wander, my own reasoning and thoughts to take over. God wanted to help me; I could feel His Spirit tugging at me to pray and seek him, but I quenched Him. Eventually, I turned my back on God; something that pains me to write today now that I’m saved again.
The key point of this story is that I never stopped believing in God. Now, that’s not a flex/brag, but a dire warning! I backslid long before I even committed any sin: I died on the vine so to say. It was neither God’s, nor someone else’s fault, but mine alone: not following the fundamentals of a Christian life. Had I prayed, fasted and sought God I would not have turned my back on God.
“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” — Matthew 26:41 (NIV)
If you’ve backslidden, turned your back, or stopped believing in Him (apostasy), know that He’s still calling out to you to come back. Every day that I was unsaved I could feel God’s call to come back; I’m so glad that I answered and said yes. After I did, a weight was lifted from me and I could feel His joy of having me back: a wound on his heart was healed that day. I beg of you to say yes too to His call: lift the weight and mend another wound on his heart.
“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them… And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. — Luke 15:4-6 (NIV)
You want to know the craziest and most mystifying part of my story? After I backslid and moved away from family, I rented out a basement room in a house out in the woods. The first night I was all alone, sad and scared, but God still comforted and ministered to me that night; this, despite me leaving him. To this day I’m not entirely sure why he did, considering He knew why I left. It was in no way an approval for me to commit sin. One day if I have the unction I will tell the full story. To be honest, part of me doesn’t want to know why in this life, because when I see him face to face, I want to say “thank you for never giving up on me”.
May God bless and keep all who read this.
May God bless and keep all brothers and sisters, new and old, in the faith in his name.
With his love and mine,
Chrom