Insightful Articles About Faith and Religion

This is a legitimate question; one I expect more people than we know have asked. The answer is simple to understand. He expects what anyone would expect in a budding relationship: mutual respect, consideration, and time with you. In this encounter He will help you to know and trust Him to help you be the best you could ever be! He will show you what His will is—Love! Not with a worldly, human-type of love but an otherworldly, spiritual love so you can begin to love others like He loves you.

God has given us several gifts to help us know Him better. Lucky for us, God’s spirit resided in men who began writing God’s love-letters to us—what we now refer to as the Bible. He also opened up a telepathic pathway called prayer. He sent us His Holy Spirit which is received at Baptism to instruct and guide us on every step of the life journey. He has provided His friends, like-minded people who can pray for us and with us. Most often we find them in Churches, yet another gift from God.

As a new child of Christ, you will want to take full advantage of these gifts: Prayer. Begin praying by telling God how thankful you are that He is there to turn to with your every need. Then ask Him to direct you to a Christ-centered church where you can be Baptized. Buy a Bible and begin reading starting with the New Testament. As you continue to use these gifts and get to know Him better, you will begin to realize that there are still other things to do. This is what the authors of the book, Called to Christian Joy and Maturity refer to when they wrote, “From “encountering” we can move to “conversion.” 

Conversion takes place when we take steps to do God’s bidding. As the above book describes it, “The process of conversion is like a bridge that takes us from life apart from Christ to the life of a disciple. Sometimes conversion seems to happen all at once, but normally there is a process that leads someone to faith in Jesus and commitment to follow him. Today we commonly describe this process in terms of an encounter with the Person of Jesus and with the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter 

with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.

-Pope Benedict XVI

“As we draw near, Christ meets us and calls us through an encounter with himself. By receiving His invitation and responding to this encounter with faith, we cross the bridge and walk onto the path of discipleship. In stories throughout the Gospels, we see examples of Jesus encountering people and calling them to follow Him. He is doing the very same thing today.” 

Isn’t it marvelous to imagine us as disciples? Just like in the Bible; stepping in the same footsteps, so to speak, as these long-ago friends of Jesus? Gives me shivers! If your heart is telling you, “NOW IS THE TIME,” then by all means, seize the day, and go to our website for three easy steps that will help you encounter God. 

[The above quoted material is an excerpt from Called to Christian Joy and Maturity: Forming Missionary Disciples, © by Gordy DeMarais and Dan Keating, Published by The Word Among Us Press. All rights reserved; no other use of this material is authorized.]

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