Feedback plz!!! (on my lifestyle changes)

[geoffrey1778]

Uuummmm, so I made a few changes in my life. I wanted to stop eating bad so I cut out junk food but I still felt I should go further with my food so today I became a vegetarian. I havn't had much trouble cutting meat out. My mom makes me fruit smoothies so it's nice. No cheeseburgers mainly...
I've been trying to read The Bible at all times, or as much as I can. Mainly lots of hours, sometimes I feel like God is telling me to read different passages and I don't cause I'm reading cover to cover and I get frustrated when I think about why he would want me to read other passages.
I decided I wanted to fast once a week, in preparation for a 40 day fast at sometime, not in the near future I think. I picked wednesdays I did my first fast a few days ago it was a 1 day fast. I thought fasting meant not to eat but I was told a fast is to give up something you want, but I'm fasting (not eating) for one day out of each week.
I stopped watching movies and citcoms, quit smoking and drinking. and I'm back in church.

 

[orangeness365]

wow good for you that is quite an improvement in such a short period of time. I don't think being a vegetarian is necessary and I don't go to church, but it's good that your willing to give all those things to God.

 

[geoffrey1778]

ok sooOOoOo.... I am looking for easy and simple vegetarian dishes. I'm stuck on broccoli and cheese. also my favorite drink is unsweet tea with lemon, but is there a healthy drink out there that dares to contend against? Ermm, so how does God want me to dress? I wear blue jeans and t-shirts sometimes, and the most dressed up I get is a 70's style dress jacket, with slacks and stuff. Am I supposed to wear black clogs and black pants and stuff or what is the answer on that one. I've been reading The Bible and I read that David practiced meditation. What is meditation? And also what is my prayer life supposed to be like? I pray in the morning, and before I goto sleep. But I feel like I should go in prayer 2 or 3 times a day at special points with a lengthy in depth/meaningful prayer. Tanks <3 Geoff

 

[PrudenceAnn]

ok sooOOoOo.... I am looking for easy and simple vegetarian dishes. I'm stuck on broccoli and cheese. also my favorite drink is unsweet tea with lemon, but is there a healthy drink out there that dares to contend against? Ermm, so how does God want me to dress? I wear blue jeans and t-shirts sometimes, and the most dressed up I get is a 70's style dress jacket, with slacks and stuff. Am I supposed to wear black clogs and black pants and stuff or what is the answer on that one. I've been reading The Bible and I read that David practiced meditation. What is meditation? And also what is my prayer life supposed to be like? I pray in the morning, and before I goto sleep. But I feel like I should go in prayer 2 or 3 times a day at special points with a lengthy in depth/meaningful prayer. Tanks <3 Geoff

Hello again Geoffrey!

Wow! You have made some awesome changes in your life! I can relate to how you feel. Since my conversion, I have also seen some changes take place... Almost involuntarily. I also now do not drink alcohol, and have no desire to, I attend church every week (sometimes twice), give up far more time to help others, and am mindful as to what I eat (although in me this has manifested more as a refusal to waste anything... Or see anything wasted). As for great vegetarian recipes, my husband makes a lovely vegan curry, I can get the recipe from him if you would like? Have you tried soya? I have a lot of vegetarian friends, and they have often cooked for me using soya; it is really yummy if prepared well!

Meditation is a state of utter focus on one thing... It is not dissimilar to prayer. When I meditate, I use psalm 46.10 "be still and know that I am God"... But break the phrase down gradually, until I am focusing solely on one thing... E.g. "Be still and know that I am God... Be still and know that I am... Be still and know... Be still... Be." I found Christ centred meditation invaluable in helping me refind peace at difficult times. There are many web pages and books on Christ centred meditation... I can send them to you if you like?

As for prayer... I tend to pray when I feel moved to pray. Like you, I find myself praying first thing in the morning, and last thing at night... But I also find myself moved to pray at other times, particular when reading Scripture. With this, I would say, pray when your heart feels moved to pray... Not when your brain thinks you should.

As regards clothing... Well.... I too feel quite compelled to dress differently... As a woman for me that has manifested in a desire to dress with modesty, especially when I am not with my husband. However, I think to a certain extent this is my wish, rather than God's (that said, there are passages in scripture that support my feelings that I should dress modestly). I don't think these smaller details are as important to God as they are to us. I would advise you to dress as you see appropriate, and not waste too much time focussing on it. It is great to be mindful of everything that you do, but spending too much time focussing on external details can be distracting from the internal transformation that being reborn in Christ brings.

Luke has some great insight on this:

"For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing." (Luke 12:23 ESV)

In short, my advice is, wear what you feel comfortable and appropriate, but please do not spend too much time troubling yourself as to whether it is "correct" or not... After all... Before the fall, we were completely unclothed!

Hope this helps

 

[geoffrey1778]

Thank you for the advice!!! What exactly is the curry dish, I've heard of it and it sounds great. I'm going to take up meditation as soon as I can find time to. And that's great advice on helping others. I heard that bathing is a sin, what's your take on that?

 

[PrudenceAnn]

Thank you for the advice!!! What exactly is the curry dish, I've heard of it and it sounds great. I'm going to take up meditation as soon as I can find time to. And that's great advice on helping others. I heard that bathing is a sin, what's your take on that?

I feel this very much needs contextualisation. I do not have a shower... So if I personally stopped bathing, it would be unhygienic to say the least!

Thinking about this in context, however, it can be made sense of.

In the Roman Empire, lustful acts often took place in the communal baths... in this sense, bathing could be seen as sinful.

I the Dark Ages, people found themselves open to illness and infection from bathing... However, we now know that this was not due to the act of bathing itself, but micro organisms, insects, contamination etc... if the water is clean, this is not an issue.

 

[St_Worm2]

... sometimes I feel like God is telling me to read different passages and I don't cause I'm reading cover to cover and I get frustrated when I think about why he would want me to read other passages.

Hi Geoffrey, I'm sure it's already been said, but welcome to the family ..
(and CF, of course .. )

As to the Lord directing you away from the reading that you had planned to do, I encourage you, the next time you sense His presence and leading to do so, go find out why. I think you might be pleasantly surprised .. You continue:

I decided I wanted to fast once a week, in preparation for a 40 day fast at sometime, not in the near future I think. I picked wednesdays I did my first fast a few days ago it was a 1 day fast. I thought fasting meant not to eat but I was told a fast is to give up something you want, but I'm fasting (not eating) for one day out of each week.
I stopped watching movies and citcoms, quit smoking and drinking. and I'm back in church.

Fasting, cutting out or back on worldly 'vices' etc., these are good things to do .. Don't forget though that sometimes the most important thing to do, especially as a new Christian, is to just take time to rest in Him and to get to know Him better. I don't mean to slow you down as you seek to find ways to please Him and experience all there is to experience in the Christian life, just try to remember that He loves you because of who you are in Him, not because of what you do for Him ..

(Check out Luke 10:38-42 sometime if you get the chance).

Yours and His,
David

 

[Emmy]

Dear geoffrey1778. God will be pleased about everything you are doing because you love God, but according to Matthew 22: 35-40: Jesus tells a Lawyer: " 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 you love thyself." That is straightforward and easy to remember.
Start by treating all you know and all you meet, as you would love to be treated: kindly and always with friendly words. God wants our Love, freely given and NO conditions tagged on. We read in Matthew 7: 7-10:
" ask and ye shall receive," then thank God and share all Love and Joy with your neighbour. God will see your sincere efforts, and God will approve and Bless you. God will also know that you Love God, because you are following God`s Commandments to love and care. Keep asking God for Love, then thank God, and share all Love and Joy with your neighbour.
A Christians great weapon is his love, with love we will overcome all enmity and wrong behaviour. We might stumble and forget at times, but then we ask God to forgive us, and carry on Loving and Caring.
The Bible tells us to: " Repent," and to " Be Born Again." We change our selfishness into: Loving and Caring. Jesus our Saviour will help and guide us:
JESUS IS THE WAY. We will find that people around us will treat us the same as we treat people, and we will become sign-post to God our Heavenly Father.
This imperfect world does need Love and Joy badly, are we going to follow Jesus` advice and become the sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father and
ask Jesus to lead us? With God on our side, Who or What can be against us?
I say this with love, geoffrey. Greetings from Emmy, your sister in Christ.

 

[Peripatetic]

Your heart is clearly in the right place, and I admire the discipline that you are demonstrating. Be careful though. Drastic changes can be hard to maintain. I've seen a lot of people struggle with guilt when they can't maintain it. It also can bring about something called legalism which Jesus warned against. That is: putting too much of our focus on doing (or not doing) certain things. The most important thing is loving God and others, but balance is important too. God wants you to have time for rest and recreation too.

 

[parsley]

John 5 -- Abide in me, and I in you.

 

[thesunisout]

The Bible and I read that David practiced meditation. What is meditation?

Praise God that you have listened to His voice and are conforming yourself to the image of Christ. You will find the balance in all of these things as you grow closer to Him and learn to trust Him in all things.

I want to address this specifically because it can confuse and deceive people and many Christians don't understand what it means. The worlds idea of meditation is much different than the understanding we get from scripture. The word itself in the Hebrew means "to muse or mutter", which pictures a man with the word of God continually on his mind and heart. He is constantly rolling it around and considering it and looking for insight and wisdom through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The world says to meditate is to empty your mind, and that is exactly when Satan comes in. The bible says to meditate is to keep ones mind and heart fixated on the word of God at all times.

http://stronginfaith.org/article.php?page=19

 

[St_Worm2]

Here is another link in addition to TheSunIsOut's excellent post and link on Christian meditation: A Primer On Biblical Meditation

Just scroll down when you get there as there is quite a bit of interesting information on this subject, including a quote I'm posting here from J I Packer's book, Knowing God.

--David

“Meditation is the activity of calling to mind, and thinking over, and dwelling on, and applying to oneself,
the various things that one knows about the works and ways and purposes and promises of God.
It is an activity of holy thought, consciously performed in the presence of God, under the
eye of God, by the help of God, as a means of communion with God.”
Knowing God, Dr. J I Packer​