Do You Believe?

     One of my all-favorite Christian movies is Do You Believe?  It is an excellent movie.  But it's very emotional.  I cry through the whole thing.  (Have tissues ready!)

     The whole movie is great.  But when I first watched it, one part stood out to me more than the others.  A lost, hurting, confused man was in a hotel room when he found a Bible.  And I thought about how sad it is that, nowadays in America, people are trying to get Bibles out of hotel rooms and to erase all references to God in public areas.

     What about the hurting person who needs help?  The lost person who needs to be found?  The hopeless person who needs the Truth, Love, and Healing that only God can give?  How will they find the answers they are looking for (even if they don’t know they are looking for them) if we eradicate God from our society?  (Another reason I love this movie is that it shows that no one is beyond the grace of God.  Everyone has a chance for salvation because Jesus loves and died for everyone!)

NBA #23, 24, 25: Living our Faith!

(This advice starts at #1, beginning of February)
New Believer Advice #23:  You will face persecution and criticism for being a Christian!

            The very fact that we choose to live differently than other people will make us stand out.  And since we are choosing to not live as the world lives, it will make them feel like we do not approve of their lives and choices.  This will make them want to lash out at us, criticize us, mock us, and discredit us in any way they can. 

            Not everyone will do this, but just look at the way the media portrays Christians and those with a strong sense of right and wrong.  The very fact that we say there is “right and wrong” will make us unpopular in this day and age of moral relativity. 

NBA #22: Long Waits

New Believer Advice #22:  As I just said, if God is making you wait, there is a reason.

            As I reflect back on my spiritual journey so far, I have to say that the most growth seemed to happen during the times of God’s deafening silence, the long waits.  These usually started with me praying about some request.  And then, when the answer wasn’t coming and I couldn’t even feel His presence anymore, I would end up desperate, pleading to just have any sense that He was even there, that He cared and was listening, and that He hadn’t abandoned me.  What started out as a request for something I wanted or “needed” became a search for knowing that God really cared about me.  God’s silence forced me to move from wanting my request to just wanting Him. 

NBA #21: Pray instead of worry!

New Believer Advice #21:  Don’t just wish or worry.  Pray! 

            God does not force us to seek His help, guidance, and input.  He allows us to try to handle things in our own wisdom.  And when we do, we oftentimes make a mess of our situation.  But He is willing to step in and guide.  He is just waiting for us to ask Him, to invite Him into our situation. 

            Do not just daydream, hope, wish, or worry.  Put your thoughts into words and pray them over to God, giving Him the right to answer as He will and to direct your path.  Pray about your hopes and dreams and concerns in the faith that He can do what you are asking Him to do, but also in the willingness to have faith in Him even if He doesn’t.  (And search Scripture for guidance and wisdom.)

NBA #20: Spiritual Battles

New Believer Advice #20:  Remember that there is a spiritual battle going on around us all the time.

            “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”  (1 Peter 5:8) 

            “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”  (Ephesians 6:13)

            And according to Ephesians 6:10-18, our spiritual armor includes: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, a readiness to share the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit - which is the Word of God - and prayer.

NBA #17,18,19: Stripped!

New Believer Advice #17:  God will upset your “nice, little, comfortable life.”

            The more you grow in the faith, the more you will be rocked by other people’s pain and by injustices, the more compassion you will have for the hurting and weak and needy, and the less comfortable you will be with building up treasures on earth when people around you are in so much need.  You will become more concerned with other people’s souls.  You will seek righteousness more and you will feel more and more convicted when you stray from it.  This is the painful process of being molded to be more like Christ . . . of learning to put His Kingdom, righteousness, and priorities first . . . of learning to build treasures in heaven instead of treasures on earth . . . of dying to self and living for Him.  Your heart will begin to ache for the things that make His heart ache.  And this ache is good.  Let it move you to do His work on earth!  Let God upset your “nice, little, comfortable life.”

NBA #16: Expectations, Assumptions, and Misconceptions

New Believer Advice #16:  You will also have to face your expectations, assumptions, and misconceptions.

            When things go wrong or God does not do what you thought He should do or you are in a long, spiritual “desert” where He seems like He’s not listening to you, you will come face-to-face with expectations, assumptions, and misconceptions that you have of God, faith, life, others, and yourself.  Much of the time, our discontentment or discouragement comes from these misconceptions, expectations, or assumptions.   

            Do not just get discouraged that life isn’t matching up to what you thought it should be.  Examine the assumptions and expectations that you have of yourself, others, and God to see which are fair and biblical and which aren’t.  And take the time to replace your misconceptions with biblical truth. 

NBA #15: Facing Fears

New Believer Advice #15:  You will eventually have to face your deepest wounds, fears, and doubts.

            Christians have wounds, fears, and doubts, too.  It is normal.  Turning to Christ does not necessarily automatically take these away.  But the difference is that God will help us work through them and turn them into something good. 

            We might think that we can simply ignore some of the deepest wounds, fears, and doubts.  But eventually we will have to face them.  So don’t be surprised if old wounds that you thought were buried and gone come to the surface. 

            And when they do, you will have a decision to make: be honest about them and invite God to help heal them or ignore them and stuff them down even more. 

NBA #14: Spiritual Highs and Great Big Falls

New Believer Advice #14:  Be warned:  Your biggest falls will come after your greatest spiritual highs!

            When we reach a mountaintop experience and have some great, spiritual high, we are most vulnerable to falling . . . precisely because we do not think that we are vulnerable to falling.  After all, we tell ourselves, I am so close to God right now that I could never do that!  And we let our guard down.  And we fall hard.  (This happens a lot with kids who grew up in the church and who thought they would never behave like “the rest of them out there in the world.”  They just never thought they were capable of it.) 

            Always maintain your spiritual armor, be on guard against temptations that Satan dangles before you, and be aware of your areas of weakness and when you are most vulnerable.  Pride, self-confidence, and the feeling of invincibility always lead to a fall. 

NBA #13: And No Cliques or Bandwagons Either

New Believer Advice #13:  Be on the lookout not only for pedestals but for “righteous cliques” and bandwagons, too. 

            Throughout your walk, there will be times when a flashy bandwagon full of confident, wise-sounding Christians rolls past you, spouting off (in a self-righteous, “Pharisee” kind of way) about spiritual things, about other people’s sins, and about how “good Christians” should live.  Yet they will lack compassion and humility and be all about rules and about putting themselves above others, about pointing fingers and making judgmental proclamations.

            And you will be tempted to jump on board because they seem so impressive and righteous.  You will think that they must know what they are talking about because they sound so confident.  Plus, deep down inside, you will want to be on the finger-pointer’s side and not the one being pointed at.  You will want to side with the spiritual bullies and not the ones being bullied.  You will want to sound righteous, too, like you are one of them.