The Young Believer

One step forward, two steps backwards

Eze 36:26 "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.Eze 36:27 "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.

The scripture above was my daily prayer. I don't know when I never asked God for this. I didn't want my relationship with God to be a counterfeit, I wanted it to be as authentic as it could be. So this was my prayer. I did it so many times that I almost used the same prayer when blessing my food.  I loved the person I was becoming, I didn't want a dose of His presence, I wanted an infilling of His presence. I wanted it to be a daily thing. Each day, I prayed, studied the bible, attended bible meetings. I was excited. I think I felt like the  combination of a newly wedded couple. I was everywhere. All over the place. This feeling only lasted a week though.

Did I tell you that none of my friends knew I was born again? Only my church friends knew, I didn't have to tell them, they were there, amidst of my encounter with God. They knew, so we were cool. The friends I spent time with  never knew. I was the same old guy. I said earlier, becoming born again doesn't change your skin tone or your complexion or your height. It has nothing to do with one's physical stature, but everything to do with one's spiritual life. what is renewed is your heart. Why? it's simple. Look at this: Pr 23:7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. "Eat and drink!" he says to you, But his heart is not with you. So God wants to change your whole character which is nothing but a wall of your thoughts. Your thoughts are the building blocks of the person that you are. So you see, why God wants us renewed. So what does God want? 2Co 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. He wants us to to have a mind that is in alignment with His mind. Do you know we can live the life of Christ right here on Earth? 1Jo 4:17 ¶ Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. As who is? Talking about Jesus. You don't have to live a defeated life. That is not what Jesus died for, oh no, He didn't die for that. He came to create an environment of worship. He came to impart His being into our systems. He came to colonize us. Colonization is not about accommodation but about invasion. He came to change the way we live. He came to change the way we think, the way we behave, the way we do things. So that is why He came. To give us a life full of hope. Here is what He came to do for us. It's way more than just dying for our sins. it's deeper than that. It is more  spiritual than just the dying part. Look at this amazing scripture: Lu 4:18 "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed;

He came for way more than that. He was also concerned about the issues of life. He came to free us from all captivities. He came to break chains, to cause shifts in our lives. To free us from all kinds of oppression. He is concerned about the things of the heart. Look at what He says:Mt 11:8 "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

He wants you to experience total peace. Do you know that Jesus doesn't want us to suffer? He is willing to take our pain, our sorrow and everything else that bothers us. He is willing to get rid of all of that. How many of us really trust that He can handle all of our problems. All He has ever wanted is a relationship with His children. That is it! All He wants is a genuine relationship. He seeks true worshipers. Take  a look at what the Bible has to say about this. John 4:24 "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." God seeks such worshipers. Those that can worship Him in truth and in spirit. 

Going back to my little story. My friends never knew at all about my new life. They never thought it possible, especially happening to me. I wasn't a monster, I just wasn't very nice. I wasn't  a guy you wanted messing around with. To be honest, I wasn't huge or muscular. I just had a thing with words, I said mean things. I was a leader of a group. Usually, I led my friends into doing the wrong things, they kind of looked up to me. If I was beaten up, there was no chance of them surviving. so in a way, I was the strongest in the pack I led. How was I supposed to break the news to them? I thought of how they'd react. What  they'd say. If they'd believe me. It was one of those times where you discovered what Christianity meant. It's not just about gaining. You must be willing to lose, in order to gain. Lose your pride. Lose your popularity. Give  your self to God. If you want God to truly use you, you have to surrender. It has be a continual, never- ending emptying of self to the Lord. Remember, your service to God is not dependent on your ability, but availability. I was not ready to lose my friends. We had come a long way. We had the coolest and the realest conversations with my mates. I was not willing to lose that. When I met them, I was a different person. I  wore a mask. To them I was still the same guy, but to my christian friends, I was the Evangelist. I was the word practitioner yet maintaining a life of sin. I was like some kind of undercover agent.  At some point, I even forgot that I was born again. I started listening to the same old music, my rap music. Soon after that, I started cussing again. I felt so horrible each time I went back home. I kept asking my self why I was doing that. Why couldn't I be the same christian guy. To be frank, I was ashamed of God, I never admitted then, but I know now that, that was what it was. I simply denied Him. I thought I needed my friends. I will say this again. To gain is to lose. That is how Christianity works. Whether or not we like it, it has to happen. You cannot continue to walk with the same friends and expect to be any different.  Amos 3:3 Can two walk together, unless they are agreed? The answer is really simple, no! We need to be mindful in that area. I wasn't ready to give up on that, not yet I wasn't.  

Everyday that I spent with my mates, I felt a whole new conviction. I questioned my faith when I was alone. I even blamed God for what I had gotten my self into. Why wasn't He there to rescue me? He is always there. The spirit of God lives in us and He came for good. Here is what the scripture says:  "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever-- John 14:16 The Helper is always there, but we ignore Him. There is a constant battle between the flesh and the spirit and the one who will always have Dominion is the one you feed the most. So He was there, but He never participated in my sins, no! He is Holy. I struggled because I was trying to do things all on my own. Even Jesus never did stuff on His own. He depended on God through the Holy spirit. Jesus was obedient to the Father. He only did stuff when God told him to through the spirit. John 14:31 "But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here. He followed God. Obeyed Him totally without fail. That is what God wants from us. He expects that from us. My relationship became better the minute I confided in my mentor, I explained to him and he was more than willing to guide me. We can never do things alone. We need each other.