Do This First
(Copyright © by Roy Fowler
and Shekinah Glory Ministries 2003-2010)
Jesus said,
"I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except
through Me."(John 14:6 – LITV) The only
way to God the Father is by or
through His Son, Jesus Christ (He is also called
Yashua Messiah). In 1
John 5:12, God
said, "The one having the Son (of God – Jesus) has
(eternal) life. The one not
having the Son of
God does not have life."(LITV and my comments in
brackets) The only way to Heaven is to
have Jesus in your life.
Here are four principles
you need to know to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ:
1) God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. John 10:10 "The thief (the devil) comes to steal and kill and destroy, but I (Jesus) came that you might have life and have it more abundantly (that it might be full and meaningful)."
But there is something that keeps us from experiencing God’s love and plan in our life:
2) All people are sinners and sin keeps us from experiencing God’s love and plan for us. Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory (or heaven) of God.
This causes a great dilemna: God loves us, but our sin alienates us from God and his love. How did God solve this great dilemna?
3) God solved this problem by sending his own Son Jesus to die on the cross for us. Jesus paid for our sins by taking our punishment upon himself. Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish (go to Hell) but have eternal life (in Heaven).
(NIV)
Saving faith is not just intellectual assent or agreement.
Saving faith is not temporal faith, such as asking God to help your family.
Saving faith is resting your entire hope for heaven on what Christ has
already done on the cross.
Jesus
wants to come into your heart as Lord; that means he wants to be your master
and guide you daily to a full and meaningful life with power over sin and
discouragement.
Revelation 3:20
"Jesus said,
"Here I am! I stand at the door (of your heart and life) and knock. If anyone
hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and (fellowship) with
him, and he with me."
Is there any reason you
could not pray right now to receive Jesus in to your heart?
Jesus promised, "Look! I have been standing at the door (of your heart and life), and I am constantly knocking. If anyone hears me calling him (feels God’s presence) and opens the door (of your heart and life), I will come into him and fellowship with him and he with me."(Revelation 3:20 – TLB, KJV & tran.hlps)
Does God lie? (No!) Did Jesus promise you that he would come into your heart and save you? (Yes!) Where is he right now? (In your heart and life!)
You now have a relationship with the Heavenly Father, Jesus the Son of God and your Helper, Teacher and Comforter, the Holy Spirit. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit have all revealed themselves by the name of "Yahweh"(in King James Version "Jehovah”) Even though the phrase "the Trinity"(that God is Three Personalities in One God) is not in the Bible, the idea of it is.
(The Bible is God’s Word written through many of His prophets and Apostles. The Old Testament is accepted as the Word of God by the Jews and by Christians in its current form [by the Jews since 400 B.C.], and the New Testament has been accepted by Christians in its current form since about 300 A.D..)
Here is an Old Testament Scripture
about God the Father: Isaiah 63:15-16
"Look down from heaven and see from your lofty throne, holy and
glorious. Where are your zeal and your
might? Your tenderness and compassion
are withheld from us. But you are our
Father, though Abraham does not know us or
And here is one Old Testament
Passage about the Son of God which is also quoted in the New Testament as about
Jesus: Psalms 2:7-12 I will proclaim the decree of Yahweh: He said
to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your
inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule them with an iron scepter;
you will dash them to pieces like pottery.’
Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve Yahweh with fear and rejoice with
trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be
angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a
moment. Blessed are all who take
refuge in him."(NIV)
And here is
an Old Testament (also called Old Covenant) passage about God the Holy Spirit:
Isaiah 63:8-10 "He (Yahweh God) said,
‘Surely they (
Here is
just one passage (there are more passages) about the Father, Son and Holy
Spirit all being revealed at the same time: Mark 1:9-12 "At that time Jesus (the Son) came from
Here are some of the main "Tools"you will need as you start the Christian Life in 10 areas.
Here are the Ten Areas of Christian Growth:
1) Deny
2) Carry (the Cross)
3) Follow
4) Abide (with God in Prayer and the Bible)
5) Abide (with God in Obeying Him)
6) Prayer (and How To)
7) Service
8) Fellowship
9) Teaching (and Preaching and giving witness)
10) Fruit (Bearing Fruit or Getting Results)
If you take the the first letter of each key word, you can use the acrostic:
D-C-F-A-A-P-S-F-T-F
D= Do (you)
C= See
FA= Far?
AP=Apply
SF= (your) Self
T= To
F= Freedom!
Do you see far? Apply yourself to freedom!
And here are the
ten areas with a Scripture for each one:
(These are excellent to eventually memorize.)
Ten Areas of Christian Growth
1) DENY
Luke 9:23 "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me." (NIV)
Denying yourself comes from 1) spending less time thinking about yourself and 2) spending more time thinking about God and others. And if you spend more time thinking about God and others, you automatically spend less time on yourself. Denying yourself would include fasting and prayer, because one of the main ideas of fasting is to afflict and chasten and humble your sinful nature, to make yourself smaller and God bigger.
Galatians 5:16 "Walk in the Spirit, and you will not gratify the lust or desires of the sinful nature."(NKJ and NIV) If you spend most of your time living in the presence of God and doing what the Holy Spirit guides you to do and say, then you won’t spend your time just thinking about how to please your sinful nature. Romans 12:21 "Don’t let evil get the upper hand, but conquer evil by doing good."(TLB) So if you fill your life with 1) Devotion to God, 2) Serving God and 3) Serving Others, you won’t have too much time on your hands to just think about how to please your self and your sinful nature.
2) CARRYING YOUR CROSS
Luke 14:27 "And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple."(NIV)
The cross was a Roman way of torture and death. Carrying your cross includes killing your sinful nature. We are saved completely in our spirits when we are born again, but deliverance and salvation of our mind, emotions, will and body is a progressive thing all of our lives. One of the ways we do this is to consider or "reckon"our sinful nature and it’s desires as dead. Romans 6:11, "In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus."(NIV)
Another way to do this is to stop sinning and start obeying God and start living for him by imitating his qualities. Ephesians 4:22-25, "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body."(NIV)
A third way to do this is by renewing your mind by memorizing Scriptures that deal with specific areas of your sinful nature. Psalms 119:11, "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you."(NIV) For instance, a specific area would be for forgiveness to replace anger. Ephesians 4:31-32, "Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."(NIV)
And lastly, another way to do this is to ask Jesus to kill that part of your sinful nature on the cross.
Romans 7:18-25 "I know that nothing good lives in me,
that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but
I cannot carry it out. For what I do is
not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do-- this I keep on
doing. Now if I do what I do not want to
do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do
good, evil is right there with me. For
in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the
members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a
prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death
(that is the sinful nature)?
Thanks be to God-- through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself
in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law
of sin."(NIV and my comments in brackets)
So, when we identify an area of sin such as hatred or unforgiveness,
then we can ask Jesus to take that part of our sinful nature and kill it on the
cross!
Following Jesus is to imitate what Jesus did and commanded. This is the last part of the beginning verse. Luke 9:23 "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me."(NIV) And part of the normal, healthy Christian life of following Jesus is to share your faith (also called "witnessing to others”) or to be a fisher of men. This does not necessarily mean we will always be the one who reaps the harvest.
We need to "discern"or figure out at what stage of openness people are to the good news about Jesus, and then either:
1) "plow"(do kind acts in the name of Jesus),
2) "sow seed"(mention Jesus and/or what He did a little bit),
3) "water the seed"(build on others witness by explaining it more, or answering questions, etc.) or
4) "harvest the crop"(lead someone in prayer to receive Jesus into their heart).
Let us deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow Jesus in being a fisher of men!
4) ABIDING (in Bible and Prayer)
John 15:5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing."(NAS)
We need to seek intimacy with Jesus through Bible and prayer and maintain that intimacy daily. This would be seeking Jesus’ presence through devotion and worship. This is what causes Jesus’ "yoke"to be easy and his burden to be light (what makes serving Jesus seem easy when you serve Him by God’s power).
Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
(NIV)
I John 5:3-5 "This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God."(NIV) What makes obeying God’s commands not burdensome is when we first get His power and love and then we want to serve Him and we have the power and strength to serve Him.
5) ABIDING (in obeying God)
John 15:10 "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love."(NAS)
Also seek intimacy with Jesus by obeying his commands and daily maintain this intimacy, too. This would include every command in the Bible, like the ten commandments, but also would include when the Holy Spirit "prompts"you or "quickens"you to do something like witness or minister healing to someone, etc. . Just remember to "test"any prompting or quickening by God’s word. (1 John 4:1 and 2 Tim 3:16 and Deut 19:15)
6) PRAYER
John 15:7 "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you." (NAS)
Prayer needs to be a daily habit also. The basic types of prayer that need to be included is the acrostic PACT: PRAISE (and worship), ASKING (for yourself and others), CONFESSION (of our daily sin) and THANKSGIVING for what God has done for us. Praise and worship of God mean we humble ourselves and lift up or exalt God. "Asking"is asking God for what you need and/or want. Intercession is praying and asking for others. Confession is admitting and repenting of sins that the Holy Spirit convicts you of. (1John 1:7,9) And thanksgiving is expressing appreciation to God for what He does for you.
7) SERVICE
John 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."(NIV)
The Bible says to love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:36-40 " ‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’ Jesus replied: ‘"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: "Love your neighbor as yourself.”
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’"(NIV) The way we show love to other people is by finding ways to meet their needs and serving them. This service is to both the saved (those who know Jesus) and the lost (who haven’t received Jesus yet). What we do for the saved is called "fellowship"and what we do for the lost is called "service"and "witness”.
We are to love our brothers and sisters in Christ in actions and in truth. The word fellowship ("koinonia"in Greek) means partnership, participation and communion. It is "sharing"our gifts, talents and abilities with each other. It is being good friends. Just as a hot coal removed from the fire gradually grows cold, so we need fellowship with on fire believers to stay hot. The church is not a building, but is a group of believers coming together to worship and fellowship with each other. We need to regularly (weekly) attend a Bible believing Church or a home Bible study group, etc. . We are not an "island"or a lone wolf. When we isolate ourselves from other Christians, we are more easily attacked and overcome by the devil.
9) TEACHING AND PREACHING (THE BIBLE)
John 8:31-32 "If you continue in My Word, you are truly My disciples, and you will
know the truth, and the truth will make you free."(RSV)
Continuing to read God’s Word everyday is what causes us to find the truth that can set us free from the World (the world’s ways of doing things), the flesh (our sinful nature), and the devil (because he tempts us to sin). We seek God and learn about Him in reading, studying, meditating, memorizing, and confessing God’s Word. Then we can teach and preach from what we have learned. Now "teaching"is usually an organized way of training another person about God’s Word, Prayer, Living the Christian Life, etc. . However, "preaching"is usually using the Bible to give an emotional appeal or exhortation to obey God and His Word more.
Bearing Fruit means that there should be results in our life that show and prove that we have a relationship to Jesus (or, in other words, that we are "abiding"in Him). Witnessing is the natural outgrowth of abiding in Christ. If we are daily reading the Word, praying, and fellowshipping with other Christians, it will be natural and normal to want to share the good news about Jesus. Bearing fruit includes:
Any healthy, vital on-fire Christian will want to share the good news about Jesus with others so they can also KNOW they are going to heaven and can also have ABUNDANT LIFE before they go to heaven.
ABSOLUTELY KNOWING
You are Saved and Going to Heaven:
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 of God
does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the
Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life." (NIV)
Do you have Jesus, the Son of God in you (Rev 3:20) and in your life (1 John 5:11) as Savior ("Savior" is the one who rescues you from hell) and Lord (Boss, Leader, Master or King of your life)?
And when you have Jesus the Son of God inside you as Lord (Master - Put Him in the driver's seat of your life) and Savior (the One who rescues you from hell)...
then Jesus will give you life abundantly (a life that is "full" or "overflows" with meaning and purpose and fulfillment and God's love and blessing and JOY ).
ABUNDANT LIFE
John 10:10
"The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I
have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."
(NKJV)
And here is my amplified version based on comparison of many versions and also insights from the Greek text:
John 10:10
"The thief (the devil) comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy in
your life (He is the one who "steals" your health, wholeness, safety, freedom,
good relationships, and the feeling that you are loved and accepted and
affirmed, etc.) . I (Jesus) came that you may have and enjoy life (and not the
"deadness" of seperation from God), and have that life in abundance (not just
having life, but being FULL of God's life, until your life OVERFLOWS with
meaning and purpose and fulfillment and God's love and blessing and JOY )." (Roy
Fowler Amplified Version)
Sharing Christ with Unbelievers
There are different stages for witnessing or sharing the good news with those who don’t know Jesus. For the furthest away from God, we plow up the fallow or hard ground by doing kind actions for them and accepting them even when they oppose us. (Jeremiah 4:3 and Matthew 5:44) The next stage is to plant or sow seeds in those who are open to the good news about Jesus. (Matthew 13:3-8, 18-23) The stage after that is to water the seed or to give more encouragement and answers to objections to those who have heard some about Jesus. (1 Cor 3:6-8) The final stage is harvesting the seed which is leading a person in a salvation prayer to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. (John 4:35-38 and Romans 10:9-10)
Following Jesus is to imitate what Jesus did and commanded. Remember, this is the last part of the beginning verse: Luke 9:23 "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me."(NIV) And part of the normal, healthy Christian life of following Jesus is to witness to others or to be a fisher of men. This does not necessarily mean we will always be the one who reaps the harvest. But we are to discern at what stage of openness people are to the good news about Jesus, and then either plow, sow seed, water seed or harvest.
Let
us deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow Jesus!
(Copyright © by Roy Fowler and Shekinah Glory Ministries 2003-2009)
Healing Scripture
"Praise and bless and worship Yahweh, O my soul; and all that is within me (including all physical and emotional pain. I give them to you Lord.), praise and bless and worship (God’s) holy name. Praise and bless and worship Yahweh, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits-- who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit (that is hell) and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth (and vitality) is renewed like the eagle's." (RFAV) (We need to worship Yahweh by giving him all that is within us including releasing to him all our griefs, sorrows, emotional pain, and bad memories)