I just gave my life to God, now what?

s1mp13m4n

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Hello everyone. About an hour ago I just prayed with my wife to accept Jesus into my life. All I want to do now is cry, not because I am sad....I do not know why. I know that I know that I know that I am born again. I can not explain it....it is not a feeling or anything tingly....it is just this peace that I can not explain or describe. The songs on KLOVE have meaning now, they are not just a song that makes me feel good.....they seem deeper now somehow. Now what do I do? I do not go to church or anything. All I know is that I want Jesus and what the artists are singing about in the songs. I do not want religion or a denomination, I just want Jesus. I thought I was born again back in 1995, but I know now that I was not. What I mean is that back then I had a "moment" and my brain was in it but not my heart. I am a very selfish, hard person with no compassion and I can be a jerk. I do not want that any more. I want to be love, caring, kind, gentle, and I feel like a new person. Not in my head, but in my heart somehow. I can not explain it. Now what, what do I do now?
 

Asvin

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Hey,

I recently came back to my faith myself and can understand the joy and peace you are describing! :) I have noticed that I do not crave or am addicted to the things I was when I was an atheist! My advise to you, having accepted Christ as your savior and repented, is too look at how and with whom you spend your time with everyday... I say so because our environment can have a very huge impact on how we behave! Look at your friends.. is there someone who you know is living a very bad life? Is there someone who does not like Christianity or Jesus Christ? Is there someone who is trying to impose their will upon you? These are the kinds of people I would not want in my life.. don't abruptly cut of the relationship, but explain to them why you don't want to associate with them!

Spiritually, I would suggest reading the Bible everyday, listen to sermons, testimonies, music, etc. and attend Church whenever you can!

Hope everything turns out well! :)

God bless! :)
 
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Spiritually, I would suggest reading the Bible everyday, listen to sermons, testimonies, music, etc. and attend Church whenever you can!
Reading the Bible is so important, because God's mercy isn't natural or logical to us -- we need to be reminded that He really means what He says.

I get those unexplained tears sometimes, and it's very cleansing. For me, it seems like the Holy Spirit is working within, healing and repairing things that needed fixing. Like a tailor that knows what He's doing when I don't have a clue what my inseam measurement is.

Is your wife open to praying daily? That would be a great start -- having someone you can share your thoughts with, and pray with. There is much power behind prayer that we disallow when we don't use it.

Something stood out to me in a sermon this week -- that God is a supernatural Being, and we expect Him to operate like a man. If we connect with Him on this supernatural basis and allow Him to do things we couldn't possibly do on our own, then we are more able to see who He really is.
 
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Bear.Fr00t

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So good to hear!

Like others said, you need to feed daily on God's Word. If you've never read the Bible much, I suggest starting with the New Testament.

Also, start looking for a group of Christians to fellowship with. This could be a church, or just a group that meets regularly.
 
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cimbk

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Hello everyone. About an hour ago I just prayed with my wife to accept Jesus into my life. All I want to do now is cry, not because I am sad....I do not know why. I know that I know that I know that I am born again. I can not explain it....it is not a feeling or anything tingly....it is just this peace that I can not explain or describe. The songs on KLOVE have meaning now, they are not just a song that makes me feel good.....they seem deeper now somehow. Now what do I do? I do not go to church or anything. All I know is that I want Jesus and what the artists are singing about in the songs. I do not want religion or a denomination, I just want Jesus. I thought I was born again back in 1995, but I know now that I was not. What I mean is that back then I had a "moment" and my brain was in it but not my heart. I am a very selfish, hard person with no compassion and I can be a jerk. I do not want that any more. I want to be love, caring, kind, gentle, and I feel like a new person. Not in my head, but in my heart somehow. I can not explain it. Now what, what do I do now?
AWSOME!!!!! the whole bible will begin to make more sense too, almost as if you never read it before, (even if you had) I understand your not wanting to get all messed up in a bunch of doctrine, as you are a new believer, personally I think you would love a house church, its simply going back to the way things were done in the new testiment, people met in a house and worshiped togather, they don't make any huge demands on the people to give all their savings to help build some monsterous building that seats 50,000 people who will never participate in any of the ministry, just show up sing a few songs and walk out after hearing the most watered down biblical message they could ever hear. You're called to be a disciple of Christ, and when discipled you are to make disciples........thats not going to happen sitting in a pew some where, my folks have spent their whole lives sitting in a pew and I hate to say it but the milk and bread diet never led them anywhere, thats what most denominations feed their flocks. which is understandable because the whole service is geared to meet the needs of the unbeliever, the biblical church we see in the bible was geared for believers, to empower them to evangelize the unbelievers out in the world, (get them off their butt).............anyway just my two cents........would suggest to you the most important thing I ever learned in the bible........"bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" 2 Corithians 10:5............... everything falls into place under this one teaching
 
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Peripatetic

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Welcome back! I agree that Bible study is very important, and it doesn't have to be boring or a chore. Christianity needs to be a balance of brain and heart. Heart alone can burn out when life's roller-coaster inevitably hits a valley. Brain alone can take the joy and love out of you. A healthy balance of both is the key to stability.
 
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AWESOME NEWS!!! I'm delighted for you both, s1mp13m4n and Asvin. s1mp13m4n, was your wife already in a relationship with Christ or did you both do this together? Apologies if that's a nosey question!

The best advice I can give right no is:

1) Enjoy this beautiful moment. In times of trouble, you'll think back and remember it, and wish you were back here. So savour it. Spend time allowing the Holy Spirit to fill you to overflowing.

2) Take time to find a church near you. Ideally, you want one where the people welcome you, where you feel at home, where there is obvious spiritual growth in the congregation and where the teaching is good to listen to (and in line with Scripture, obviously). Pray about it, and see where the Holy Spirit leads you.

3) Actually, there's not a 3). I'm just delighted to have two new brothers in Christ :D
 
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Emmy

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Dear s1mp13m4n. Jesus tells us in: Matthew, chapter 22, verses 35-40: " The first and great Commandment is: Love God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. The second is like it: Love thy neighbour as thyselves." Then Jesus states this important fact: " On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." Love is very important to God. What to do now? " Treat all you know and all you meet, as you would love to be treated," with love and compassion, and remember that love is not only a " feel-good " factor, love is also a " doing-word," and love changes people, as well as happenings. Love is a Christian`s great weapon.
Jesus will give us His Love and Joy, and the Holy Spirit will give us His Love, also. Jesus told us to: " ask and ye will receive," then we thank God, and share all Love and Joy, with all around us.
God will see our sincere efforts, and God will approve and bless us. People will notice the kind words and friendly smiles, and we will find that people treat us the same. Love is very catching, and the Bible tells us to " Repent," to change from being selfish and unloving, to being loving, kind and always friendly, and helpful.
God will also notice that we love God, HOW? By following His Commandments to love and care. We might stumble and forget at times, but then we ask God to forgive us, and God will forgive us, as we will forgive others: ( our neighbour, friends and not friends)
What better way to show God your love and devotion? You will find that God is not slow, in giving you blessings and encouragement. I say this with love. Greetings from Emmy, your sister in Christ.
 
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Harry3142

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s1mp13m4n-

What you are to do now is trust God to mold you into the person that he wants you to be. From your OP, I would say that he is already at work doing that.

Some churches teach that we must obey laws and commandments in order to show the sincerity of our faith. But St. Paul himself wrote that he had a problem when he attempted to go that route, and it is a problem that is common to all mankind:

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 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? Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:14-24a,NIV)

It's called 'paradoxical intention', and is so much a part of our psyche that psychologists have even been able to use it in the treatment of their patients (e.g., a person who needs to write as part of his job, but is having problems with writer's cramp would be told, "Try to get writer's cramp.") There's an old saying which is, "The harder you try, the faster you fail." That saying is the recognition of this quirk in our nature.

But St. Paul also wrote that what we cannot accomplish through our own efforts, God not only can accomplish, but works to accomplish on our behalf. We are to trust not in our own willpower, but in God's ability to 'rein in' our sinful nature, and then replace it with a new nature that follows his lead naturally and without effort:

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. (Galatians 5:16-26,NIV)

At first glance this passage appears to be a list of Do's and Don't's. But when we examine it more closely we find that many of the acts of the sinful nature aren't actions, but rather the emotions which culminate in the commission of sinful acts if left unchecked. We can no more change our emotional makeup that a leopard can change his spots into stripes. But the Spirit can do what we cannot, namely, subdue that sinful nature.

And the Spirit's work doesn't end there. As well as 'reining in' our sinful nature, he also brings with him a new nature (the fruit of the Spirit) with which to replace it. Your saying in your OP that you want to show love, kindness, and gentility is evidence that he is already at work within you, subduing the nature that once dictated your words and actions, and replacing it with a nature that is 'in synch' with what God wants those words and actions to portray.

There's another old saying which it does all of us well to remember:

Christians do not trust in their ability to hold on to God; they trust in God's ability to hold on to them.

Put your trust in God's ability to hold on to you, transforming you into the person that he wants you to be. By doing that you wil ensure that what you say and do will truly conform to what God wants of you.

God bless-
 
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parsonsmom

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Hey,

I recently came back to my faith myself and can understand the joy and peace you are describing! :) I have noticed that I do not crave or am addicted to the things I was when I was an atheist! My advise to you, having accepted Christ as your savior and repented, is too look at how and with whom you spend your time with everyday... I say so because our environment can have a very huge impact on how we behave! Look at your friends.. is there someone who you know is living a very bad life? Is there someone who does not like Christianity or Jesus Christ? Is there someone who is trying to impose their will upon you? These are the kinds of people I would not want in my life.. don't abruptly cut of the relationship, but explain to them why you don't want to associate with them!

Spiritually, I would suggest reading the Bible everyday, listen to sermons, testimonies, music, etc. and attend Church whenever you can!

Hope everything turns out well! :)

God bless! :)


====================================

Greetings Asvin; Very good advice; It looks like you are in the
right direction. Parsonsmom.
 
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s1mp13m4n said (in post #1):

I just gave my life to God, now what?

Once we feel that we've given our lives to God, the first thing we need to do is examine ourselves, whether we're truly in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5, Proverbs 28:26, Proverbs 14:12). The way to do this is to read every word of the Bible (Hebrews 4:12, Matthew 4:4) and see if we accept everything that it teaches as having come from God (John 8:47, 2 Timothy 3:16). For just as a true faith will initially come from reading (or hearing) what the Bible teaches (Romans 10:17, 2 Timothy 3:15), so we can know that we're remaining in the true faith if we continue to believe that everything the Bible teaches came from God (John 8:31b, 2 Timothy 4:2-4, 1 Timothy 4:1, Mark 8:35-38).

In order to have any real relationship with Jesus and God the Father and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19), most importantly we must believe the right things about Jesus (John 14:6-7): that he's God the Word made flesh (John 1:1,14), that he's the Christ (1 John 5:1, 1 John 2:22), that he's the only begotten (only born) Son of God (John 3:16,36, 1 John 2:23), meaning that he's the only person ever born without any human father (Luke 1:34-35).

And we must believe that Jesus lived a perfectly sinless life (Hebrews 4:15, 2 Corinthians 5:21) and so he could die on the Cross for all our sins and rise from the dead on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). He rose and will remain forever in an immortal flesh and blood human body (Luke 24:39, 2 John 1:7), as our eternally-human high priest/mediator (1 Timothy 2:5, Hebrews 2:16-17, Hebrews 7:24-26).

At some point in the future, Jesus will descend bodily from heaven (Acts 1:11-12, Zechariah 14:3-4, Revelation 19:11-21) and obedient believers will be resurrected or changed in the twinkling of an eye into immortal human bodies (1 Thessalonians 4:16, 1 Corinthians 15:21-23,51-53). Then Jesus will judge all believers (Psalms 50:4-5, cf. Mark 13:27) by their works (2 Corinthians 5:10, Romans 2:6-8, Luke 12:45-48, Matthew 25:19-30). Then obedient believers will reign on the earth with the returned Jesus for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:4-6, Revelation 5:10, Revelation 2:26-29). Sometime after that, obedient believers will live with Jesus and God the Father and the Holy Spirit in the city of New Jerusalem on a new earth (Revelation 21:1-8).

Once we come into faith in Jesus, we must obey him and God the Father and the Holy Spirit by repenting from all our sins and getting water-immersion (burial) baptized into Jesus (Acts 2:38, Romans 6:3-5, Galatians 3:27). Then we can get hands laid on us to receive the Holy Spirit baptism (Acts 8:17) and one or more of his wonderful Spiritual gifts (Acts 19:6, 1 Corinthians 12:8-10). Then, washed from all our sins by water baptism (Acts 22:16) and empowered by the Holy Spirit within us (Acts 1:8, Ephesians 3:16), we must each and every day for the rest of our lives deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Jesus (Luke 9:23, 2 Corinthians 5:15), by doing the particular spiritual works which he has given us as individuals to do (Mark 13:34, Romans 12:6-8, Titus 3:8), and by repenting from every sin that we might commit (Hebrews 10:26-29, 1 Corinthians 9:27, Luke 12:45-46), and by continuing in the faith unto the end (Hebrews 3:6,12,14, Hebrews 6:4-8, John 15:6, 2 Timothy 2:12b).

But if we as believers wrongly employ our free will to refuse to do these things, then we can't expect to have any continued real relationship with Jesus and God the Father and the Holy Spirit. For a continued real relationship with them requires that we not only continue to believe in them but also continue to obey them (John 15:10, John 14:21,23); faith without works is dead (James 2:20) and cannot ultimately save us (James 2:14-26, Romans 2:6-8, Matthew 7:21, Hebrews 5:9, Revelation 22:14).
 
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heymikey80

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I'd suggest one of a few different things.

Find a church. If they have a class for engaging in deeper walk with Christ, follow it.

If you find yourself looking around for a class, I'd suggest "World Harvest Mission"s "Sonship" or "Gospel-Centered Life".

I'm also reading an interesting book right now, "Not a Fan." that is very useful to me.
 
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Miss79

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I've seen a testamony of a pastor who died and went to heaven and came back, he stood in line in front of Jesus and Jesus asked him and the other people who stood in line the following: Have you learned to love? (when they said yes -you cannot lie in front of Jesus- they went to paradise) I found it a very good question it says all about life.

(check if you want "bob jones died God sent him back from heaven's door" on youtube)
 
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Edenlife

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AWESOME NEWS!!! I'm delighted for you both, s1mp13m4n and Asvin. s1mp13m4n, was your wife already in a relationship with Christ or did you both do this together? Apologies if that's a nosey question!

The best advice I can give right no is:

1) Enjoy this beautiful moment. In times of trouble, you'll think back and remember it, and wish you were back here. So savour it. Spend time allowing the Holy Spirit to fill you to overflowing.

2) Take time to find a church near you. Ideally, you want one where the people welcome you, where you feel at home, where there is obvious spiritual growth in the congregation and where the teaching is good to listen to (and in line with Scripture, obviously). Pray about it, and see where the Holy Spirit leads you.

3) Actually, there's not a 3). I'm just delighted to have two new brothers in Christ :D

Ditto! Great answer...:D
 
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HearerofFaith

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Hello everyone. About an hour ago I just prayed with my wife to accept Jesus into my life. All I want to do now is cry, not because I am sad....I do not know why. I know that I know that I know that I am born again. I can not explain it....it is not a feeling or anything tingly....it is just this peace that I can not explain or describe. The songs on KLOVE have meaning now, they are not just a song that makes me feel good.....they seem deeper now somehow. Now what do I do? I do not go to church or anything. All I know is that I want Jesus and what the artists are singing about in the songs. I do not want religion or a denomination, I just want Jesus. I thought I was born again back in 1995, but I know now that I was not. What I mean is that back then I had a "moment" and my brain was in it but not my heart. I am a very selfish, hard person with no compassion and I can be a jerk. I do not want that any more. I want to be love, caring, kind, gentle, and I feel like a new person. Not in my head, but in my heart somehow. I can not explain it. Now what, what do I do now?

Deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow Him. Get ready to fight the fine fight and never resist Gods Holy Spirit. Check out teachingfaith.com I think it could help you. And remember its God who does the molding through His Spirit, not our fellow man.
 
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