What should you do now that you’re saved?
Congratulations! You just invited Jesus into your heart. You’ve become “saved”, “born again”. You have come thru the door into the room of God’s Kingdom and are standing just inside it. But how do you fully walk into the room? How do you get to know Jesus better? How do you let God, the Holy Spirit transform your life? Fortunately, the answers are very simple. When you fall in love with someone, you want to spend time with them. It’s the same with Jesus. The following steps, in no particular order, will help you get to know Jesus better.
1) The bible tells us of God, who He is and what’s He like. To get to know God, we need to get to know the bible. Reading the bible everyday is very important. Pick the best time for you to read it. It may be in the morning or the evening. Whatever works better for you and your schedule. Taking the classes “How to Read the Bible”, How to Read the Bible – Part 2” and “How We Got the Bible” are very helpful in getting to know God better. The following scripture verses tell us to do this:
2nd Timothy 3:16-17…All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
Psalm 119:105…Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
John 8:32…And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
Matthew 7:24…Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
Where should I start reading the bible at? See our suggestions at https://bsssb-llc.com/bible-reading-order-suggested/
2) Prayer! What is prayer? Read our link at https://bsssb-llc.com/prayer/. Prayer is just talking and listening to God. You can do it anywhere and anytime. You can pray a one sentence prayer or a longer one. You can pray sitting down, standing up, walking or lying down. You can pray at work, at home or on a vacation. You can pray in the morning, daytime or evening.
Prayer can consist of up to 5 things: praise to God, worshipping Him, being thankful to Him, confessing sin in our life and asking things of Him. These bible verses talk about prayer:
Matthew 6:9-13…Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Philippians 4:6-7…Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Proverbs 15:29…The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.
3) Get to be around and know other believers.This is called fellowship. Just like a plant must be surrounded by good soil to grow, you need to be around other believers to encourage your growth in Jesus. Proverbs 13:20 says to become wise, you need to walk with the wise. Ephesians 2:19-22 says the same thing. There are some old friends that you’ll want to keep. But if an old friend is not a good influence on you, you’ll want to keep your distance from them.
1st Corinthians 15:33 says that “bad company corrupts good morals”.
Matthew 5:30 says “And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.”
Proverbs 12:26 says “The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.”
4) The Church…The church is all of the believers in Jesus Christ. The word “church” is the Greek word ‘ecclesia’, which means “the called out ones”. We are called out from an unbelieving worldly system to one which serves Jesus whole-heartily. Going into a church building doesn’t make you a Christian anymore than going into a bagel shop makes you a bagel. The church is a living organism, not necessarily an organization, though it may be. The church is not the building. The church goes to a building.
Acts 2:42 says “They (the new believers) devoted themselves to the teachings of the apostles ( in our time, this is to the teachings of the bible), to intimate fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” A good bible believing church should be a place to spiritually grow & fellowship. By getting in a bible study or a small group, you can get to intimately know other believers, grow, pray and share life with them. Church is so vital that Hebrews 10:25 warns against not being part of one.
Each church has a different “style”. Find one that fits your style and regularly attend it. Remember a few important things about church:
– a church is the people, not the building.
– a church is not a place for perfect people. It’s a hospital for sinners.
– no church is perfect as it’s made up of imperfect people serving a perfect God.
5) Witnessing…Having the Holy Spirit in your heart will naturally make you want to share Jesus with other people as you will want them to share in this happiness also. While not every believer has the gift of evangelism (like the late Billy Graham), we are all called to evangelize, to tell people how they can have this new life in Christ also. We have a plaque in our house that says, “Live in such a way that those who don’t know God will come to know Him because they know you.” Read 1st Peter 2:12.
6) Spiritual Gift(s)…Determine what your spiritual gift(s) are. There are many online spiritual gift tests that can point you in the right direction in determining what your gift(s) are.
For a good description of what spiritual gifts are, go to https://bsssb-llc.com/blog2-spiritual-gifts/ or ldolphin.org/rrrgifts.html.
For one spiritual gifts test, go to spiritualgiftstest.com.
7) Spiritual Warfare…There are 3 entities that don’t want you to be successful in your Christian life:
– your flesh. These are your old desires. Anything that draws you away from or stunts your spiritual growth. It could be the desire for more money, or more success in your work, your sexual desires or your hobby addictions. Read Romans 7:15-25 & Galatians 5:19-21 & 1st Peter 2:11 & James 1:14.
– the world, this can range from common routine things, like spending an inordinate amount of time on your house & yard work to becoming so involved with activities, (like your kids sports) that your spiritual life gets side-tracked, to people telling you to keep your religion to yourself or don’t force it on them by voting a certain way. Read James 4:4.
– the devil…Yes, there really is a devil. Satan doesn’t wear red tights and carry a pitchfork but he is real. Read https://bsssb-llc.com/is-there-really-a-devil/.
He can be very beautiful. He can even disguise himself as an angel. Read 1st Corinthians 11:14. While he can only tempt you, he cannot make you do anything (1st Peter 5:8-9). Satan is much more powerful than you & I but thru the Holy Spirit, you are more powerful than he is (1st John 4:4).
Thru the Holy Spirit, you can overcome all of these things. Sometimes it will be very easy. Other times, it will be very hard. Sometimes you will fail and sin but God can and will forgive you. Ask for His forgiveness, get up and try again. Eventually you will be victorious. Read Galatians 6:1 & James 5:16 & Matthew 26:41 & Genesis 4:7.
When any of these things tempts you, do what Jesus did. He quoted the bible (Matthew 4:4, 7-8). In some cases, you should just flee from evil. Read 1st Corinthians 6:18-20 & 10:13, 1st Timothy 6:11-12 & 2nd Timothy 2:22. In other cases, fill your mind with godly thoughts (Philippians 4:8). Ask Jesus to deliver you (Matthew 6:13 & Psalm 143:9). By making these steps part of your everyday life, you will grow closer to God (James 4:8 & Isaiah 55:1-3, 6-7 & Psalms 145:18-19).
By following these 7 steps consistently, you will grow closer to the Lord. Over time, it will be amazing to see what God does with your life as you follow the path He has laid out before you. Have a wonderful journey!
Speaking as one who has been there…and is still keeping on going,
Dave Maynard
https://bsssb-llc.com
