To The New Believer

It is the sole desire of this ministry to help the new Christian to go forward in their walk with the Lord and grow as all who have taken the name of Christ should do. We realize that it is very difficult to grow, especially in the early stages of our new life.

First of all, when we get saved, the devil knows he cannot win our souls as Jesus Christ has already won that victory and given it freely to us when He gave His life on that cross at Calvary and took it up again. Although the devil knows he cannot win our souls, he will do all that he can to cause us to stumble and to hurt our testimony, so that we will not go forth in the victorious life we now have.

Knowing this, we must utilize all the resources the Lord has given us to combat these attempts. Of all the precious souls the Lord has allowed me to win to Jesus, many have been church members, but some have not. If you already belong to a God fearing, Bible believing, Bible preaching church, you should go to your pastor and tell him what the Lord has done for you and ask to be baptized again. You will be surprised how effective this step will be in your growth. If you are not a church member, you should find a God fearing, Bible believing, Bible preaching church and tell the pastor there that you have received Jesus Christ as your personal saviour and that you want to be baptized and join the church.

The devil will fight you now as you have never known before. He will fight you when you are in church to try and keep you from receiving the message that God has placed upon His messenger's heart. When church is over, he will really fight you in having you to believe that you are on your own from Sunday until Wednesday and until Sunday again. It is of utmost importance that you be in the church you have chosen as often as is possible. This is indeed a vital part of survival and growth, however we are not on our own when we leave the church. Growth must continue and we pray that the following pages will help you to do just that.

There is no such thing as a neutral gear for the Christian. We are either going forward and growing or we are going backward. The Christian life is just that, life. It is a continual on-going process. When we get saved, we become a new creature, however we are not yet a perfect creature and our enemy the devil knows that and he will attack our weaknesses to try and hinder our growth.

As we have said, we are not on our own when church is over and the #1 most important resource we have is to listen to God and let Him direct us. Now, the devil and his people would have you believe that God doesn't speak to us anymore. That is a lie and it comes straight from the father of all lies. God speaks to His children just as much today as He ever did and we must learn to listen to Him and to know His voice, because the devil will also be talking to us more than he ever has.

How does God speak to us? Well, He speaks to us in many ways, but the #1 way He speaks to us is through His Word. We must not neglect His Word, but we must be in His Word as much as possible. Now a lot of Christians just pick up the Bible and begin reading it and whatever system they use to read the Bible, they get very little out of it. They say things like, "Well, I just don't understand a lot of the Bible." Well, that may be true, but the real problem is not that they don't understand the Bible, but that they don't understand how communication works. To have communication, there has to be two or more parties involved. That is why it is essential to develop a good prayer life as well. In order to have God speak to us through His Word, we must never open our Bible without first going to Him in earnest prayer, asking Him to speak to us and to help us grow in our walk with Him.

Another way God speaks to us is through His Holy Spirit. First, we must realize who the Holy Spirit is. The Holy Spirit is not an it. He is a He and He is the third person of the Trinity of God. He is as much a person as God the Father is and as God the Son (Jesus) is and He lives inside us the very second we get saved. There are those who teach that we get filled with the Holy Spirit somewhere down the line after we get saved or not at all, but that too is a lie of the devil.

In fact, we have asked the Holy Spirit to guide us in preparing this little growth packet. As we have already said, we are filled with the Holy Spirit the very second we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour, however, He will only lead us as much as we allow Him to do so.

The Bible says in Ephesians 5:18, "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;". Well, we all know that drinking is wrong, but what this verse is saying is that as the drunk man submits to the alcohol, he allows that drink to possess his entire being.

Each time he takes a drink, he becomes more submissive to that drink, thus allowing it to control everything about him. That drink controls his speech and he speaks differently. It controls his walk and he walks differently. It controls his actions and he acts differently. The Bible is saying that we should submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit just as the drunk man submits to the drink.

We should allow Him to control our speech and we will therefore speak differently. We should allow Him to control our walk and we will walk differently. We should allow Him to control our actions and we will act differently.

Now we've seen that the Holy Spirit is not an it, but rather He is a very definite He, we should also notice that He is not a conscience as even the unbeliever has a conscience. No, the Holy Spirit is reserved especially for the children of God. He may use our conscience to convict us of wrong that we will do as we grow or refuse to grow. Not only will He convict us, but He is also the Comforter. Read John 14:26. The conscience was not designed by God to bring us comfort.

Another way that God speaks to His children is through other believers. This is another reason that faithful church attendance is so very important to our Christian walk with God. Not only faithful church attendance, but also association and fellowship with other believers. The more we are among other true Christians, the more likely we are to hear what God has to say to us. The devil would like nothing more than to keep us in the company of his crowd so that he can manipulate us into his way of thinking, thereby keeping us from growing as we should.

Now that we see that we are not alone in our new life and that God does still speak to us, we need to develop a listening spirit. First we have to make our will to grow the Priority of our everyday life. If we only desire to grow while we are in church, then we cannot expect God to teach us very much. Then we should Pray, asking God to teach us how to listen. Then we should Pursue that priority by diligently studying His Word. Finally, we must Persist. If we don't hear from God immediately, we should not give up so easily.

God knows we desire to grow and He desires that more than we do. In order for us to develop a listening spirit, we must have a teachable spirit, one that is open to learn and willing to learn. Read Psalms 25:4-5 and Proverbs 9:9-10. We must also have an attentive spirit. Read Proverbs 4:1 and Proverbs 4:5 and Proverbs 4:20. Also, we must have a humble spirit, acknowledging our need to learn. Read Psalms25:9. Then, we must have a submissive spirit and submit to be obedient to God. Read Deuteronomy 11:13. If the Lord tells us something and we don't obey His command, we probably won't hear from Him for awhile or He may say, "Do what I have already shown you before I show you something else." And finally we will have to have an expectant spirit. Read Proverbs 8:33-34. Wait upon God's answer, never doubting that He will answer. God's in no hurry. He knows just what we need just when we need it.

Now that we know that God does still speak to us and how He speaks to us and how to develop a listening spirit, let us be sure about where God is. Read Acts 17:22-31. God is not creation. He is the Creator. We never have to pray for God to come into our presence. God is omnipresent (everywhere). Read Psalms 139:7-12. We live and dwell in the presence of God. Every lie, every theft, every act of immorality, all gossip, it's all in the presence of God.

Sin does not separate us from the presence of God. It only separates us from fellowship with Him. God said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." God wants us to be continually aware of His presence. He wants an intimate, loving, trusting, relationship with us and He knows that the more we know Him, the more we will love Him. And the more we love Him, the more we will trust Him.

Now that we know that God still speaks to us and how He speaks to us and how to develop a listening spirit and where God is, let's look at just who we are in Christ. Read Ephesians 2:10. We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. Now, workmanship is the same thing as masterpiece, which is something of notable excellence or the greatest achievement of it's creator.

That's us, no matter how the world may see us, we are the crowning of God's creation. What is God's last creation? Man. Why did God create us? To glorify Him. We may need a cleansing, but we are still His masterpiece created in Christ Jesus.

The world must see Christ in us or they will not see Him at all. Read Matthew 5:13-16. We are also the salt of the earth and the light of the world. At this point I must ask myself, who's life is flavored because they met me? Light dispels and drives out darkness. Whether we know it or not, we are guiding somebody. I wonder who could be following my light? Our presence in this world should beautify this world and not just blend in. Light not only dispels darkness, but it also exposes. It exposes sin for what it is. Our light is to be seen. There is no place for private Christianity.

Is our life salty enough and light enough that when people see us, they begin to want whatever it is that we have? Who has seen Him because they first saw us? Who is looking at us and looking for Him???

It is my most earnest prayer that this little growth packet has and will serve as a very real and lasting blessing and help to you as a new believer and that you will be excited about this wonderful new life the Lord has given you. May you continue to grow and go forth and tell others of Him.