Dear friends in Christ,
Thank you for taking the time to read this article. As always I give praise to my God for the opportunity to share some thoughts with you again.
Today I have a question again: Have you taken that initial step of truly choosing to follow God? If you don’t really know, then this article is for you. The day you choose God, you will KNOW it and it WILL change everything. The very day I chose God, I started to experience His Hand upon me, His love in me, His peace over me and His mercy for me. In short, I received a whole new life.
I believe that there are many Christians all around the world who feel that they are not experiencing the fullness of God in their lives, and they feel like they are not growing in their relationship with God and it doesn’t need to be that way.
I have been a Christian all my life, but I had never really had a close, personal relationship with God at all. I went to church, read my bible and prayed, but I never experienced Him as a living entity inside of me or a part of me. I could never understand how some Christians could be so alive with God and excited about Him in their lives. I always felt like I was missing out on some secret that would lead to an abundant life in Christ. Is this you? It was me, until the day that my life fell totally apart and I really had absolutely nothing left inside of me.
I thank God that I went to Church on a Sunday morning, when I felt like I really didn’t even belong there anymore. I belonged nowhere. Yet, in that church service, for the first time in my life, I stood with a completely open heart before God, exposing every part of me to Him, asking Him if I was even His child at all. Right then a woman came to me and gave me a Word from God. She simply said to me that God said: “You ARE My child, choose to trust Me now.” Dear friends, the only reason I chose to do just that was because I had no other option, nothing left to lose. I cannot explain in words what I felt in that moment, but my heart just cried out to God saying: “I choose to trust You. I have nothing left, just take over. Take it all and do whatever You want with me, I give it all to You, Lord.” I have said those same words before, chose to give my life to God, but I never really meant it. I had never before been as honest with God. In my desperation I truly meant each word I said. I gave up on myself. I let go and I let God take over.
The same woman whom I had never met before, handed me a piece of paper and on it was written John 14:1. I read it from my NLT. Jesus was addressing His disciples and said to them: “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God , and trust also in me.”
By the time I got home, a dark cloud had already started lifting from my heart and I could feel a stirring in my soul. That was the beginning of my personal relationship with God.
Dear friends, why am I telling you this? Because I have learnt a few very important lessons because of the choice I made on that specific day.
1. When God calls you, DO NOT WAIT. There is no reason to wait until you have
nothing left before you choose to trust Him. In doing so, you waste precious time
that could have been spent with Him. You don’t need to be desperate before
choosing Him. If you really desire the fullness of God in your life, you need to ask
Him for it with an open heart and you need to lay it all out on the table and open
yourself up completely to Him, giving Him authority over EVERY single aspect
of your life. ( Jer 29:13 “And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for
Me with all your heart.”. Also read Deut 4:29 and Prov 8:17.)
Please don’t wait till you have no other choice. The sooner you chose Him, the
better. Then, when harder times do come, you will already know that you have God
on your side and you and God will face the challenges together and you will rise
above them every time.
2. Trust God. He IS worthy and faithful. Once you have chosen God, believe that His
Word is true and every promise in His Word is for YOU. ( 1 Pet 1:9 “The reward
for trusting Him will be the salvation of your souls.”- NLT.) God’s promises of
mercy, forgiveness, healing and abundance is offered to you. You deserve it no
more or less than the worst or best person alive. God gives it to us all, He
loves us all equally and all He says to you is “Trust Me.”
3. When God starts working in you, go with it. When He starts talking to you,
LISTEN. When He starts leading, follow! Once I took the first step saying: “ Here I
am Lord.” and the second step -trusting Him blindly when I truly could see nothing
good ahead, choosing to still believe Jer 29:11 and standing on Heb 11:1, God did
all the rest.
He started by making me hungry for His Word. I could not stop reading my bible,
and still cant. He made me hungry to talk to Him and I do so constantly now,
whenever I am awake, I talk to Him about any and everything. Then He softened
my heart and showed me where there is a need for people to be loved and He
started leading people to me. I started praying for people everywhere, even at work.
Whenever God sends someone to me who needs prayer or just a bit of His love, I
choose to obey.
Then He started showing me certain things in my life that had to change, in order
for me to grow in Him. If He shows you to let go of certain thing in your life that do
not fit into the life of a child of God, then choose to leave those things immediately.
It may be hate, racist thoughts, pride, any kind of addiction, the way you speak, the
movies and programmes you choose to watch. Whatever it is, if God wants you to
let go of it, do so. I did it overnight and have never looked back. To change your
behaviour or let go of an addiction can be difficult when done on your own, but
remember that this time you are doing it with God. You are no longer bound by the
sinful nature and you don’t need those things in your life. Once you leave them
behind, you will feel your spirit being at ease, because you have died to your old life
and God has given you a new life. He will help you to live it cleanly. ( Rom8:1-17.)
Once I did these things, I started to experience a living God, who talks to me, answers me, gives me the desires of my heart. Things that I would see as miraculous before are now becoming daily occurrences and I realise that with God nothing is ever impossible.
Friends, if you want to experience God, alive inside you, if you want to feel and see the things I have mentioned above, if you know that you are not in a PERSONAL relationship with your Father in Heaven, please choose to give it all to Him NOW. Every day you wait is a day filled with God’s abundant love that you are missing out on.
If you want to choose Him now, pray this prayer with me right now.
Dear Heavenly father, I long to feel You, to experience Your closeness in my life. Father, today I choose to say Yes to You. I hereby truly give my life, all of it to you. See the whole of me, and take it all. Lord, my life no longer belongs to me, I give it to you now. Please come, take my hand and show me the way to get closer to You. Thank You that I am now Yours in every way. Lord, you are everything and You are all I need.
Amen.
Be fearless in Christ.
Lizz
(Scriptures are taken from the NKJV unless stated differently.)
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