On this day 15 years ago I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior. I don't know if I fully understood what would lie ahead for me after making that decision, but I can assure you, my life hasn't been the same since.
As I approach my 15th year in Christ, I have some thoughts to impart. I recently had a coworker ask me why I had chosen to follow in my parents footsteps, living a life trying my best to serve the Lord, and not turn from the Lord, as many who were raised in Christian homes do. I had a hard time answering this question.
My answer to this question now, is that we as Christians have to make Christianity our own. This, for me, happened in my Junior year of High School. I had already accepted Christ as my Savior, because I believed in my heart, but I was still very much depending on my family to be the spiritual support system to guide me along. But there comes a point in our lives where we must depend on Christ so strongly that we can go through anything because we have the Lord to strengthen us.
Junior year of High School I really started struggling with my faith. I was beginning to question everything I had believed about God since I was a child. I kept talking to different people about what I needed to do. Everyone kept telling me to just keep reading my bible, keep praying...God would reveal it to me in time. So for a long time I struggled. I had a hard time reading my bible, and praying, but I knew I needed to do it. The struggle continued for a long time, until one day while reading in I John God opened my eyes with one verse. I don't know what it was...but this verse just cleared my head, and I was free from the struggle. Here's the verse:
Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
I John 5:5
Don't ask me why God decided to use this verse, but for some reason He did. I guess this verse just opened my eyes to how powerful God is, and how through Him He could help me through anything that life threw at me. I realized that that if I believed in God fully, I could overcome the world. This was so powerful to me...through this verse my faith returned with more vigor than I had ever experienced before.
I know that were I not to have learned this lesson back in High School...I would not have lasted as long as I have in the Navy. I would have given into the temptation a long time ago. I can take no credit for this...it is by depending on the Lord that I have lasted this long...thank you Lord!
So...I would like to encourage all my Christian friends to make Christianity your own. There will come a time in your life, where your family will not be there to support you, and you are going to need to depend on the Lord fully for your strength. There are Christians serving as missionaries in China right now who have no one to depend on but the Lord, because they are in hiding, as it is illegal to preach about Christ there. We must be so dependent on the Lord, that we would willingly rush anywhere God wants us to go, because we know that He is able to give us the strength to do it.
I pray that we would all live Christian lives, fully dependent on God.
As I approach my 15th year in Christ, I have some thoughts to impart. I recently had a coworker ask me why I had chosen to follow in my parents footsteps, living a life trying my best to serve the Lord, and not turn from the Lord, as many who were raised in Christian homes do. I had a hard time answering this question.
My answer to this question now, is that we as Christians have to make Christianity our own. This, for me, happened in my Junior year of High School. I had already accepted Christ as my Savior, because I believed in my heart, but I was still very much depending on my family to be the spiritual support system to guide me along. But there comes a point in our lives where we must depend on Christ so strongly that we can go through anything because we have the Lord to strengthen us.
Junior year of High School I really started struggling with my faith. I was beginning to question everything I had believed about God since I was a child. I kept talking to different people about what I needed to do. Everyone kept telling me to just keep reading my bible, keep praying...God would reveal it to me in time. So for a long time I struggled. I had a hard time reading my bible, and praying, but I knew I needed to do it. The struggle continued for a long time, until one day while reading in I John God opened my eyes with one verse. I don't know what it was...but this verse just cleared my head, and I was free from the struggle. Here's the verse:
Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
I John 5:5
Don't ask me why God decided to use this verse, but for some reason He did. I guess this verse just opened my eyes to how powerful God is, and how through Him He could help me through anything that life threw at me. I realized that that if I believed in God fully, I could overcome the world. This was so powerful to me...through this verse my faith returned with more vigor than I had ever experienced before.
I know that were I not to have learned this lesson back in High School...I would not have lasted as long as I have in the Navy. I would have given into the temptation a long time ago. I can take no credit for this...it is by depending on the Lord that I have lasted this long...thank you Lord!
So...I would like to encourage all my Christian friends to make Christianity your own. There will come a time in your life, where your family will not be there to support you, and you are going to need to depend on the Lord fully for your strength. There are Christians serving as missionaries in China right now who have no one to depend on but the Lord, because they are in hiding, as it is illegal to preach about Christ there. We must be so dependent on the Lord, that we would willingly rush anywhere God wants us to go, because we know that He is able to give us the strength to do it.
I pray that we would all live Christian lives, fully dependent on God.
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