6 Steps To Christian Growth

Giving one’s life to Jesus Christ is the best thing that could happen to anybody especially in this world which is polluted with sin, failure, diseases, human imperfections, sorrow, etc. It is expected that having given one’s life to Christ one should think of how to grow as Christian life is progressive.

The steps to follow as one desires to grow in Christ include:
1. Believe: This is the first step you should take if you desire a lasting relationship with Christ and you also wish to keep growing. You have to first believe in Jesus Christ and the work of salvation he accomplished on the cross of Calvary. Believe he is able to forgive your sins and reconcile you to God Almighty (John 1:12, Romans 10:9-11).

2. Accept Jesus: The next stage of your growth is to accept Jesus Christ as your personal saviour and Lord. Invite him with your own mouth to come and take lordship over your life (say this invitation either loudly or silently). Wilfully surrender to him the permission to take full authority over your life.

3. Confess your sins: Sincerely tell him the kind of person you have been and the type of life you have lived. He knows you very well, so tell him the truth about yourself and your sinful life and ask him to totally forgive your sins. He loves you and actually came to this earth because of you. So if you open up to him and don’t try to deceive him (he want to know how sincere you are) he will come into your life, cleanse you from your sins and make you a better person.

4. Be baptized: Jesus left an example for us by being baptized in water himself. He expects every of his true follower to also be baptized as a way of symbolizing their publicly identifying with him, as well as a way of showing that one has died to sin and resurrected with Jesus. Apart from being baptized in water one should also seek to be baptized in the Holy Ghost as this is a way of being empowered for God’s work (Matt.28:19, Mark 16:16, Acts 1:8).

5. Go closer: You need to go closer to the Lord by building your prayer life (learn how to pray), study your bible daily and apply it to your life, and learn to worship the Lord and praise his name regularly. This helps to increase your fellowship with him.

6. Give yourself: Finally, try and give much of yourself into God’s work; invest your time, talent, money, energy, intellect, etc into his work to ensure that God’s work moves forward. Take time to tell someone else about the love of Jesus and his redemptive work on Calvary. This brings joy to God as you help win souls into his kingdom and save men from the danger of hell fire. It also gives you joy as you see yourself being used of God to save others.

God’s hands are open to receive you and he appreciates every little effort you make in order to establish a lasting relationship with him. He is also ready to bless you and multiply every resource you invest into his kingdom – He is such a loving, faithful and appreciative God.
If you are not yet born again and you wish to have Jesus take control of your life, why not

The Reasons Why Jesus Christ Came

The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ into this world was not by accident; rather it was predetermined by God because God in his omniscience knew that man would certainly need him. He came for our own benefit and not for our harm as some are wont to believe.

Why did he come?
1. He came to give us Salvation: This is the primary reason he came – in order to save us from the power of sin and death which came into our lives as a result of disobedience by Adam and Eve. (Matt1:21; Acts 4:12; John 1:12; Acts 10:43 & Lk. 19:9)
2. To reconcile us to God: we were separated from God from the day we sinned against him; but Jesus came that we might be reconciled back to him (2 Cor.5:18-19; Rom.5:10; Eph.2:16)
3. To give us Rest: Jesus understood we have been weighed down by so much worries, anxiety, burdens, struggles, life challenges, etc and he came to give us rest from these problems (Matt11:28)
4. To heal our diseases: Record has it that divers manners of diseases were brought to him and he healed them. Sicknesses, diseases, afflictions ruled over us before his coming, but when he came he delivered us from their grips (Matt 12:22; Matt.8:2-3; Isaiah 53:5)
5. In order to make us rich: For our sake he became poor that we might be rich. His coming has brought to us freedom from poverty; we no longer have any reason to be poor (2 Cor.8:9)
6. To teach us: He came to teach us what we did not know or understand. He came to teach us humility (Phil. 2:5-8), how to pray (Luke 11:1-13), how to evangelize the world for God (Matt 4:23), etc
7. He came to destroy the works of the devil: The Devil held so many of God’s children captive and led them into all kinds of wickedness – stealing, lying, ritual killings, theft, disobedience, and plagued them with diseases as well; but Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil in our lives (1 John 3:8; Luke 10:19)
8. To give us freedom/Liberty: Our freedom was systematically taken away from us by the fall of our first parents. When Jesus came he restored our freedom and liberty back to us (Luke 4:18)
9. To open our eyes: ‘Our eyes’ here does not only refer to physical blindness but also to spiritual blindness as well. Jesus came that our physical and spiritual eyes might be opened (Luke 4:18; Isaiah 42:7)
10. To give us God’s kingdom: he came to prepare us for the kingdom he has been building for us and to hand over the kingdom to us (Matt 16:19; John 14:1-3). He also came to preach God’s kingdom in order to make us know our final destination (Luke 4:43).
If you have not given your life to him there is need for you to do so now because he has come for your own good and delaying your salvation could be dangerous. Just confess your sins to him and ask him to forgive you today. He is a merciful King and would forgive as many as come to him in repentance.

What is Holy Living?

We cannot understand what Holy living is unless we first know what it means to be Holy. To be holy simply means to be set aside for God’s use or service. As children of God we must understand that our God is a Holy God and that He demands we should be holy if we are to be like him (1 Peter 1:15-16; Lev.11:44; Lev.19:2).

Why should we like God? It is because we are created in his image and likeness (Gen.1:26&27). Because we are like God we must give more thought to heavenly things and less attention to worldly attractions.

What then is Holy living?
1.Holy living is to live like God: We should care about what God cares for and live our lives to please him and him alone (Rev. 3:1-6)
2.It is seeking God’s presence: Our desire to live like him would always propel us to seek his presence and be much more comfortable dwelling with him and learn from him (Psalm 27:4)
3.It is to have self-control: One of the fruit of the Spirit of God is self-control; a child of God who does not have control over his/her life is not leading a holy life yet. This involves the kinds of things we eat, our temperaments, etc. It also involves what we watch with our eyes (Psalm 101:3)
4.It also involves control over our influence on others: The word of God says we must watch what we wear so as not to push others into sin. To live to please God therefore is to be conscious about this and do all we can to control what we put on that is capable of enticing our brothers or sisters to sin (Luke 17:1; 2Tim.2:9; 1 Peter 3:3-4; Deut.22:5; 1 Thess.5:22)
5.It means to control our behaviour: To live a holy life is to control the way we behave especially when with those who are weaker in faith; we must not do anything that would cause those who are weak to lose their faith in Christ Jesus (1 Cor.8:12)
6.It is dedication to God’s service: It involves giving one’s best into God’s service – putting one’s time, money, intellect, etc to make the work of God move forward and prosper.
7.It’s about faithfulness in Tithing: Holiness cannot be complete without simple obedience to God’s command on tithing. Tithing is simply giving a tenth of one’s income to God (Mal.3:10; Matt.23:23)
We should know that living a holy life is not to strive to please man but God who has called us out for his service.