How Long (For Those Who Weren't Raised Christian)

Being a Christian isn't a feeling. It's an identity. We receive our identities when God makes us one of His own...he does that through His Word whether it's by hearing or baptism.

We aren't Christians because of anything we do! A Christian is a person who has been given faith to believe that Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of his sins and he will have eternal life with our triune God. It's not about feeling whether you did something right or didn't pray hard enough, or weren't sincere enough. It has nothing to do with that...but it has everything to do with Jesus Christ and the cross and the forgiveness of sins. Your sins. You are a forgiven child of God. Rejoice in that and be assured...don't doubt because your sinful feelings get in the way (yes, our feelings are sinful because we still live in these sinful bodies)! Just KNOW that God has saved you from death!

Now, I will say that even though I've been a Christian since I was a young child, I have had levels of more understanding and deeper faith in God. I've tried to turn away and He won't let me (Thanks be to God!).

I was raised by an Atheist and a Christian (brought up Russian Orthodox with Jehovah Witnesses teachings), so I was a Christian but not a dedicated one as a child. In 1997, I was Saved... the day I dedicated to doing God's work and in 2005 I became a Catholic Christian.
I knew the Bible stories, I knew who was Jesus was and what He did for us... but I think as a child I could just not grasp the concept of needing salvation until that one day (the day before Easter at a church play) where I felt the Holy Spirit on me and I prayed through heavy tears that I wanted Him in my life.

For me it took eight years and some very tough emotional times in my life.

What I had to hang onto wasn't a feeling ... it was the truth that finally settled my feelings. Maybe that's what John meant when he wrote this:

For anyone who was note raised Christian and came to know Jesus at a very young age, I have a question. How long did it take you to actually feel like a Christian?
I first came to our Lord Jesus Christ in 1957 through the Salvation Army. Now I had no idea who our Lord Jesus Christ was, I knew of God, but the people in our chapel never really talked about our Lord Jesus Christ.

But, in that length of time I was there, for two years, I felt accepted, loved, and at peace. But, nobody told me about our Lord Jesus Christ.

I then wandered for 32 years, believing I was a sort of a Christian.

Then in 1991, HE smacked me right in the mouth, in August 1991, and that morning I was in church like a frightened lamb.

I then began to find out who our Lord Jesus Christ is.
I know that it's a lifelong process, but one has to admit that there is a certain point when one becomes pretty solid in their beliefs, their relationship with God, etc.
It comes with foundation, if you have no foundation in our Lord Jesus Christ, then you will struggle.

Being born-again isn't a "quick fix" as many try to make out that it is.

I am 26 and thought I became a Christian in August of 2006 (so it's been about 7 months). I say "thought" because I don't think I feel this "overwhelming" sense of love for God/Jesus that some of my other Christian friends seem to have.
Read 1 Corinthians 13. Love comes after you have worked through all you wrongs, hurts, offences, abuses that may be still "springing up" in your life. Have you forgiven all those people who had tresspassed you in your past life. Forgiveness is the way to love! Once you can say to those people who you may have hated throughout your life, "I forgive you and I love you", then you will feel that love in your hurt.

You are like a new Army recruit, you don't know nothing, and at recruit camp you begin to learn basic drills. But, if your drill sergeant isn't an experience soldier, then you will possibly not learn your weapons of warfare, and receive the good foundation that you need to know when you are in "no-man's-land!
I mean, I believe in God, I believe that Jesus was who he said he was, that he died, rose again, etc. Intellectually, I understand it all and I'm pretty positive that 7 months ago, that God called out to me and I answered Him. I pray (though not always cohesively) and I try to make decisions based on what God's will is for us, and try to discern what His will is for me (which I'm not very good at yet). But I still feel like there's a piece of it that I don't have- it's hard to explain.
You won't be able to explain, but I can tell you why you feel this way.
And so I wonder if I really did become a Christian when I asked Jesus to come into my life, or if that was just a step in the right direction.
When you asked our Lord to come into your life, HE is there right now with you. And you need to believe that.

A Christian walk isn't easy, it's a race of endurance.
I know that it's not the same for everyone- that some people feel an immense change right away, and for others it's more gradual. And I know that in this lifetime, we will never fully "get it".
You will get it mate, just keep talking to mature Christians, you need an old soldier, a good mentor.
But I feel like I don't "get it" enough to call myself a Christian now.
Actually, I call myself a believer and His disciple.

Three years.

Don't get me wrong, I've been calling Jesus Lord longer than that. It took me three years of consistent seeking to start to feel God's presence in my life.

One thing great about not being raised in a home where Christianity was practiced - you don't take it for granted.

Also - I agree with Elijah2 - It's a process.

Some of us get the burning bush experience. For me, it has been a slow gradual building of my faith. I have had my share of strange coincidences or little mini-miracles that also helped my faith.

My family were not Christians--well, they called themselves Christians only in the fact that they feel it's better to believe there is a God "just in case it's true" so you do not go to Hell. That's the extent of it. No true Christian spirit, no Christian teaching, not even church attendence, and basically really no talk about it either. So I don't consider it being raised Christian. But they did send me to church when I was young because they believed church is good for kids to teach them to "be good". (They weren't big on hand-on parenting either). So for the longest time, I thought I was "christian" because I tended a Christian church. I could tell you all the children Bible stories and I could tell you what you were suppose to believe in the Christian faith. But it was not personal. Funny how the church I grew up in never even brought up the point that it's suppose to be a personal relationship. For all I knew, I believed I was a Christian.

It wasn't until I was a teenager when a Christian friend outside of this church gave me one of those Christian teen life books that opened my eyes. The first thing it talked about beside the basic gospel message was that I needed to give my life over God to have a personal relationship with Jesus. It was then that I realized that despite all the knowledge I acquired throughout all my adolescent years, I never made a conscious decision that this is what I wanted for my life. So right then and there, I turned my life over to God, and I then realized that it was then when I went from being a follower of the Christian faith to being a real born-again child of God.

Did I "feel" like a Christian? I guess I can't really say because I don't know what a Christian is "suppose" to feel like. But I did perceive a dramatic change in me. I was going through typical teenager struggles and angst, and experiencing the presence of God did feel very loving for me and very much needed at the time. But that's just my personal experience,k and it wouldn't be true for everyone. Everyone's experience with God is different.

Feelings are not a requirement for salvation. It's just that since feelings a very much a part of being humans, being in the presence of God can often evoke emotions. But everyone experiences and handles emotions differently so it's really based on the individual.

Being a Christian is more than just head-knowledge and believing God and the Bible, and even more than just doing "good works". When it comes right down to it, it's a personal relationship with Jesus. Do you have one? Have you given your life over to him so that he is Lord and Master over your life? If you have, then you are a Christian, regardless of feelings.

How long did it take you to actually feel like a Christian? I know that it's a lifelong process, but one has to admit that there is a certain point when one becomes pretty solid in their beliefs, their relationship with God, etc.

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I don't need to feel saved to be saved. I go off the Bible. But I can understand what you mean here. I would say I didn't really give Jesus my all up until roughly a year ago. I've been 'Christian' for four years. But I could just as easily say I wasn't as mature then and now I'm a more mature believer.

You may find Enrich Your Prayer Life and Bible Studies to Do at Home helpful.
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I don`t think you shall be worried.You have been a christian for 7 months and that means that you are still a child in the faith.
I shall tell you a little secret about me I have been a Christian for nearly 23 years and I still don`t feel the "overwhelming" sense of love for God/Jesus that my friends feel.I think it`s depend what kind of person you are too.I`m a quite person that don`t worship God with shouting Halleluja etc.
I feel love for God when I study the Bible and find gold grains say my friends but I want to say diamond grains I can give you one example one person ( had another religion) asked me why God created Eve from the ribbons of Adam.I thought this can I not find any answer for but I went home and look in my books.I found the answer and then I could understand how wise God was.Even this he have thought about.Then I fealt that god really could look into the future and see how we people thought.I fealt that was really clever and fealt something for him

LilLamb219 said:

Being a Christian isn't a feeling. It's an identity. We receive our identities when God makes us one of His own...he does that through His Word whether it's by hearing or baptism.

We aren't Christians because of anything we do! A Christian is a person who has been given faith to believe that Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of his sins and he will have eternal life with our triune God. It's not about feeling whether you did something right or didn't pray hard enough, or weren't sincere enough. It has nothing to do with that...but it has everything to do with Jesus Christ and the cross and the forgiveness of sins. Your sins. You are a forgiven child of God. Rejoice in that and be assured...don't doubt because your sinful feelings get in the way (yes, our feelings are sinful because we still live in these sinful bodies)! Just KNOW that God has saved you from death!

Now, I will say that even though I've been a Christian since I was a young child, I have had levels of more understanding and deeper faith in God. I've tried to turn away and He won't let me (Thanks be to God!).

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Your first sentence is VERY important. When we first get saved, there is no doubt that we feel something (God's spirit) as well as the relief of being forgiven and freed from sin. However, as time goes on and we mature, the feeling is not always present 24/7. Thus we always have to remind ourselves of our position in Christ and not rely on the feeling which can be fleeting.