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======Basics of Faith V - How to learn more? ...======
Friday, July 17, 2009. How do I learn more about the
basics of faith? What are the important steps to do now?
What do you recommend? When I start my path with Jesus, when
I say: "My God, my Lord! I believe in you, I want to
live with you", what is next?
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Jesus told his disciples some steps when he was sending
them to their universal mission (Matthew 28, 19-20):
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and
the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that
I commanded you;[...]". So baptism should be a topic to
address after coming to faith. Today, there are many
possibilities to be baptized - churches usually have
baptism services several times each year. Often, baptism
is backed up by some courses and teaching, to make sure
that people who are baptized understand what they are
doing.
Jesus says that we should follow his commands. That is an
important point. Clearly, we want to live with him and do,
what he says. But we also need to keep in mind that faith
is not a set of rules. He wants our love and sincere
obedience more than superficial sacrifice. He wants to
change our existence into something driven by the Holy
Spirit. We have started an adventure which is greater and
deeper than any other adventure on this planet.
It is very important to live faith together with other
Christians. You cannot be healthy in your spiritual life
without being with others. You need correction. You need
others to help you with their gifts and talents. And you
need a place to serve yourself, you need to put your
gifts and talents into action. There is no faith without
the church. Thus is is important to join a church. Look
around a little bit, there are so many different churches
with different emphasis on parts of the gospel. Different
countries have different church structures, reaching from
orthodox via roman catholic to many evangelical and free
churches. Try to find a church where people take faith
serious, there might be churches where faith has decayed
into pure ritual - that will turn out to be a dead end
without leading to any maturity of belief.
The most important thing is: put faith into action with
patience. There will be challenges and disappointment. God
is not a machine and he tries to teach us important and
deep lessons. But he is there, and he listens to us, even if
we need to wait very long for some of our prayers to be
answered. Take time for prayer every day. Put your faith
into action every day. Obey when you realize that Jesus
gave commands which concern your personal situation. Draw
from his hope, his truth, his love, his commitment, his
value, his creativity, his forgiveness, his mercy, his joy.
[R.W.E.P., jesusnetwork.eu]
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