The Bible Experience

I am so excited I just got my copy of the newly released Bible Experience CD. This is an audio CD of the New Testament performed by actors/actresses like Angela Bassett, Cuba Gooding Jr, Samuel Jackson, Bishop TD Jakes, Blair Underwood, and Denzel Washington just to name a few. I started listening to it to today and it really makes the New Testament come alive. As a new Christian, it is refreshing to hear the narrative performed in this manner. It really helps me to connect with the Bible. I can even read along as listen to the CD. If you have not checked it out yet you gotta go to this site: http://www.inspiredby.com/ and check it out yourself. You will not be disappointed.

My new life in God's Love

My relationship with God is secure becasue through Christ, I am forgiven and accepted by God. In addition to providing this secure relationship, God also desires for me to walk closely with Him and communicate with HIm throughout the day. This is called fellowship. I have been using the words relationship and fellowship interchangeably, but apparently there are some distinct differences.

When we choose to sin, our relationship is not affected, but our fellowship is interrupted. For example, No matter what I do , I will always be my earthly father's child. Even if I rebel against him he is still my father and I am still his child. That is the relationship that will never change. However, how we interact with one another would be strained, that is our fellowshi. How we communicate with one another.

My relatinship with God began wehn I received Christ (John 1:12), it is everlasting (1Peter 1:3,4) I is Maintained by God (John 10:27-29), and it never changes (Hebrews 13:5). However my fellowship with God began whenI received Christ as well (Colassians 2:6), it can be hindered (Psalm 32:3-5), it is maintained in part by me (1 John1:19) and it changes when we sin (Psalm66:18).

These are all truths that prove that our relationship with God is different from our fellowship with God. I must work each day to sustain a fellowship with God so that I am always connected to Him. This is an eye opener for me. I now know that I will always have a relationship with God even when I see, because my actions do not determine my relationship with my heavenly father, just as they would not determine my relationship with my earthly father. What an eye opener and an ahhh ha moment for me.

Dealing With Doubts in my new relationship with Christ

As I continue to review the Campus Crusade for Christ pamphlet I realize that thoughts of doubt come in when I begin focusing on how I feel about this new relationship with Christ. It is all new to me and it is kinda scary. However, as I read on, I found, although my feelings are important, my relationship with Christ is based on facts not on feelings that can change from day to day.

Doubts, uestions, and varying emotions are parts of everyone's life, but tthey are very unreliable gauges of anyon'es relationship with Christ. The Christian lives by faith in the trustworthiness of God and His Word. I need to place myfaith in the trustworthiness of God and His Word. The more I learn His word, the more I will beable to answer any doubts with solid facts. This is crucial for me since I converted from Islam to Christianity. I do have doubts sometimes, but I do believe in the word. So it seems like a constant battle within me. But as I read more and begin to grow spiritually, I know that it will all come to gether and make a lot more since to me. But the key is to stay in theWord, Pray, and be involved in ministry. The more I surround myself in the Christian lifestyle, the more I will learn.

I realize that being a Christian is an ongoing process, and that it is everchanging in the sense that as you mature spiritually your relationship with God changes. I am looking forward to my spiritual growth.

Understanding truths about my new relationship with
Christ

There are many exciting things that are true in my new relationship with Christ. However, understanding these truths will help me to build a firm foundation on which to grow. I want to be confident in my walk with Christ and know that I am doing the right thing at all times. I still sometimes struggle with the things of this world versus what God wants me to do. I know that if I understand the truths about my new relationship it will give me clarity in my walk with God.

So let's begin. Here are the five truths about my new relationship with Jesus:

#1. Christ forgave my sin. In Colossians 1:13,14 the Bible states, " For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." This lets me know that Christ forgave me for all my sins..past, present, and future. What a relief to know this in my heart.

#2 Christ made me a child of God. John 1:12 says, "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name,he gave the right to become chidren of God." How wonderful it is to know that when I received Christ I began a loving relationship with God. If any other relationship in my life was not loving I can find comfort in knowing that I have a loving relationship with God.

#3 Christ came into my life and He will never leave me. Hebrews 13:5, says, "Keep your lives free from thelove of money and be content with what you have because God has said, Never will I leave you;never will I forsake you." This is so hard to do for me. I want the things of this world and I want to be happy. However, I have to be careful not to place my happiness in the things of this world, but instead place my happiness in pleasing God. Is it wrong for me to want the things of this world? No I don't think so. But I think it can be detrimental when I become so obessed with worldly things that I lose my focus and take my eyes off Jesus.

#4 Christ gave me a new life. 2Corinthians 5:17, " Therefor if anyone is in
Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone and the new has come!" I get excited thinking about how my life has just begun. When I trusted Christ to be my Lord and Savior, I began a new spiritual life. And God will increasingly produce many new qualities in me as I grow in Him. I am excited about that as well. I can continue to grow as long as I keep my eyes on Jesus.

#5 Christ gave me eternal life. 1 John 5:11-13, "And this is the testimony; God has given us eternal life and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life, he who does not have the Son does not have life. I write these things so that you who believe in the name of the Son of Fid so tha you may know that you have eternal life." Eternal life is based on th the acceptance of Jesus. So because I have accepted Him into my life, I will have eternal life.

I am certain that if I die tonight I will spend eternity with God. This is the benefit of placing my faith in Christ. I cannot earn this gift. It was given to me by the grace of God. HOw awesome is our God. Thank you Lord.

My New Life in Christ

Knowing Jesus Christ is the most exciting relationship I can have. It is the beginning of a life of tremendous adventure with an all-loving, and all powerful God. It is great to know that He is on my side. Today I am going to review the 4 Spiritual Laws that a person needs to know to begin a new life in Christ. A brief review of these will help me and you as we grow in our relationship with Christ. I was recently introduced to these 4 Laws as I participated in my one to one follow up and so now I am going to share them with you:

Law One: God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life.

Law Two: Man is sinful and separated from God. Therefore, he cannot know and experience God's love and plan for his life.

Law Three: Jesus Christ is God's only provision for man's sin. through Him you can know and experience God's love and plan for you life.

Law Four: We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know and experience God's love and plan for our lives.

How can a person who has received Christ know with certainty that he will spend eternity with God? This question will be answered over the course of the next couple of days as I examine each spirtual law and delve into passages.

I can be confident in my new relationship with Christ because I have been completely forgiven and accepted by God. Only Christ's death on the cross is sufficient to provide this proper relationship with God. So because I choose to believe in Christ, I can be secure in my relationship with God.

Ephesians 2:8,9 states, "For it is by grace you ahve been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works so that no one can boast.."

There are three important words in these verses that explain our acceptance before God: grace, saved, and faith.

Grace means an unmerited favor, an undeserved gift. I didn't deserve this relationship with God nor did I earn it by any good works. Rather is is a free gift from God that I accepted when I received Christ. I didn't realize the true meaning of grace until I read this and reviewed it with my mentor. I always thought my relationship with God was earned by doing good works, but it states clearly in the Bible that it cannot be earned.

Saved means rescued, spared from disaster. When I received Christ's death on the cross as payment for my sins, I was rescued (saved) from eternal condemnation...from having to pay the penalty for my my own sins.

Faith means a beleif, trust, commitment of mind, attitude, action. Faith is beleiving or trusting God and His word. When I received Christ, I put my trust in Christ and His death for my sins.Instead of believing in my own ability to earn God's favor, I now trust that I have been reconciled to God through what Christ has done for me.

So if I was standing before God and He asked me, "Why should I let you into heaven?" I would say because I believe in Christ and I believe that he died for my sins. God would know that I understood that I couldn't earn my way into heaven through any good works, but instead my good works were done out of love for him and to please him. Just as he loved us so much to give us his only son. My good works are done in appreciation for the sacrifice he made.