FIVE THINGS THAT YOU WILL EXPERIENCE AS A CHRISTIAN
OK, there are probably a lot more than five, but these are sort of the basic things.
You have a personal relationship with God. When you are in a relationship with someone, you spend time together and talk to each other. That’s what the first two are about.
- A desire to talk to God. This is what we call PRAYER. We can talk to our Heavenly Father anytime. We can tell him everything that’s on our mind and in our heart. We can be ourselves and be completely honest with Him. He will always listen to us and He will never misunderstand us.
- A desire to listen to God via GOD’S WORD. God desires to talk to us too. The main way He does this is through His word, the Bible. God can speak to us in many other ways, but when He does, it will always be consistent with what His word says.
- A desire to be with fellow Christians via FELLOWSHIP. God is our Father. and the Church is God’s family. We love our brothers and sisters in Christ, and we will want to spend time with them
- A new CONVICTION regarding SIN in our lives. Before we got saved, we experienced GUILT FEELINGS because we WERE guilty. We also felt condemned because we WERE condemned. Now that the blood of Jesus has washed away our sin and our guilt, we have been forgiven 100%. We no longer feel guilt or condemnation (If we do, it’s from Satan – not God!) Instead, we experience GODLY SORROW from the Holy Spirit. Godly sorrow is feeling sorrowful that we have disappointed our Heavenly Father. When we become Christian, we do not suddenly become perfect and stop sinning. So we continue to practice repentance, as the Spirit works in us to conform us to the image of Christ.
- A desire to SHARE THE GOOD NEWS with our friends, family and co-workers. We have received a wonderful gift – SALVATION – the most wonderful gift there is. It is only natural to want others to have what we have been given. In fact, it would be very strange to receive the Holy Spirit and NOT want to see other’s saved – wouldn’t it?
My OPINION (not necessarily 100% factual or devoid of error!) is that if a person has absolutely NO desire for any of these five things, I doubt that they are Christians at all.
Final Thought:
The same list is essential for growing in the faith and becoming more effective as a Christian. Not a bad idea to try to do all five every day. Pray, Read/Study God’s Word, Have lunch or coffee with a brother or sister, Share the Good News in some way with at least one person and be mindful of the Spirit’s conviction regarding sin or areas He wants to change in your life.