One of the things that I get asked a lot after people come into a relationship with Jesus is how to be a Christian? I am not going to say that there are any particular duties that have to be performed, but what I will say is that you will want to make some changes in your life that will help you prosper in your walk with Jesus. Obviously the first thing that you have to do is receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
- Receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
- Read your Bible and start in the Book of John (So you get to see who Jesus is).
- Pray Diligently all of the time. Speak to God like He is your friend. Remember He already knows everything about you, inside and out. Your thoughts, your motives, your intentions, He even knows the words you are going to say before you say them. But He wants to have a relationship with you. He revealed Himself to you, so you can get to know each other. You do not have to be in any particular position or place in order to pray. I pray all of the time multiple times a day. Sometimes even while I am speaking to others. The whole point of prayer is to tell God your cares and concerns and to listen to your spirit if you feel like you are being led to do something or even to speak to someone.
- Listen to the Spirit. When you receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior you have in turn received the Holy Spirit within you and now you are connected to God from within. So the Spirit will now convict you when you sin and the Devil will condemn you when you sin. Basically the Holy Spirit is telling you that you need to repent and the Devil is trying to convince you that you are not worthy to go before God any longer. But that is a lie straight from the pit of Hell. God knew who you were and what you have already done in your life and He also knows that it is His job to clean up your life. So be patient and realize that this is a process. God does not take all of your evil desires away, but He will convict you when you decide to go back into your fleshly desires. God wants you to agree with Him and to quit doing those things. To repent means to “turn the other direction”, sin basically means to miss the “mark”. So when you sin, you have missed the mark and you need to turn from it.
- Once you have started doing all of these things, you really need to find a church and start attending. Fellowship with other Christians is crucial for your success. You might not know to many Christians and by going to church you will be able to meet like minded people. DO NOT get caught up in following people though. Remember you are following God and people will disappoint you. Even Christians will disappoint you, but DO NOT let this discourage you in your walk. Go to church, attend small group Bible Studies and start growing in your faith.
- Eventually you will want to get “Water Baptized”. This is public declaration that you are identifying with Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. When you get to this stage of your walk, everything changes. You will step up your walk from this point forward.
- There is really, only one more thing that you might want to do and that is get “Baptized in the Spirit”. When Jesus Christ was baptized in the Jordan by John the Baptist He was filled with the Spirit. Basically the “Spirit of God” fell upon Him and filled Him, to do His ministry. Now being filled with the Spirit means different things to different ministries, but I can honestly say that if you are not filled with the Spirit you will not have the power to do ministry very effectively. Some people believe that they were filled with the Spirit when they received Jesus as their Lord and Savior, but for myself, it came by having the elders lay hands on me and pray over me. That is when I received the Baptism of the Spirit. So if you do get filled with the Spirit and you will know that it has happened, because you will be moved to do things for the Lord, that you would not normally do. The Spirit will give you the power to do things that are beyond your natural abilities. You will have power over the enemy of your soul and the real spiritual battle will begin.
- So the basic review is receive, believe, read the Bible, pray, go to church, get water baptized, get baptized in the Spirit and live for Jesus!!!! Remember you are following Jesus not man and that God wants a relationship and he is not into religion. According to Scripture it says in James 1:27 that religion to God, is helping orphans and widows in their afflictions. Which basically means help those in need. Stay focused and repeat everything in this section for the rest of your days until you meet Jesus face to face. God loves you and He desires for you to know Him personally, and the only way that is going to happen, is by reading His word (The Holy Bible) and by praying to Him and listening to the Spirit.