Now what? Do you go on with your life like nothing happened? I don't think that is possible if you truly made a decision to follow Jesus. So what do you do?
The Bible says:
JN 14:15 "If you love me, you will obey what I command.
Ah great. I thought all I had to do is believe.
Lets check this out. If you receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, things change. You should love Jesus for what he has done for us. You should have the desire to do what Jesus wants us to do. You should want to help others.
You say: "I want to be like that, but how do I become like that?" God gives us the tools to become like that.
JN 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever-- 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
This happens the moment you receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, this is something only Christians have and we get strength from the Spirit of truth (Holy Spirit).
That is a tool, but we need more.
JN 14:21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."
This is what we are asked to do. It is no different then what you should do for your Mom and Dad. We are even promised that Jesus will show himself to us if we do this.
That is a tool, but we still need more.
The Bible says we need each other to be successful. Lets see:
Okay, you believe in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you know God is real and you want to serve him. You want to do exactly what we are asked to do, but just like me, you always fall down and mess up. You don't serve him, obey him or love him.
Why:
Because you need more help! We need to use all of God's tools.
God looks at us as a body and because we are a body, we are suppose to work together to help each other in all things. When some of us are struggling others are not and when we are not others are. Through the Holy Spirit God gave us gifts, gifts to serve and help one another.
Please read the following scriptures:
1CO 12:7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.
1CO 12:12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body.
1CO 12:18 But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
Take some time and meditate on what you have just read. We now know that we are suppose to be one body and we are to work together, but what about these gifts?
You say: These are gifts that preachers have, not regular people. Are you sure about that? Where does it say that? Not everyone is going to have the gifts these passages talk about, but we need to see what we do have. You may have a gift for a while and then not have it anymore. Also there are many more "basic" gifts that you may have, just read the following passage.
RO 12: 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us….. 7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
Looking at this you will see that all of us have something to contribute. Each of us has some kind of gift he or she can use to help others in their walk.
So what is the Conclusion:
If you want to be successful in your walk with Jesus, we need each other, because we don't have all the tools to ourselves. God spreads the tools around the way he feels it is best. So don't try doing it alone. It is much easier if we work together.
