Ken:
How do you start in a relationship with God? Just very simply, and the first step would be to know that you have a need and know that you have the ability to open your heart to the Lord and open the door for Him to come in and speak to you. I think a lot of people don't think that's possible, but it absolutely is the way we come in.
Debbie:
If when a person starts out in their walk with God, they need to know that their sins are forgiven. They need to know that the Lord loves them and He gave Himself for them. That they need to come into a relationship with the Lord where they can talk to Him. How do you do that? Just express your heart.
Here I am Lord, take me, use me, show me. The Holy Spirit is so key to this because He shows you exactly where your need is and how to walk in it.
Dale:
What you're saying, Deb, is a direction that's new to many people.
Ron:
As you are new in the Lord and you're developing a relationship with Him, always keep in front of your mind that He's the potter and you're the clay. And you are not going to clean up your life on your own. You're not going to make your life what you think is holy or pleasing to the Lord on your own. Your job, your drive is to have an open heart. And like Deb's saying, talk to the Lord about all the things that you're concerned about. Talk to Him openly about it, but keep an open heart. And let Him be the one who leads you and changes you.
That's so important. So you don't fall into these traps of trying to do it yourself. That's a big one. Performance orientation. Trying to perform for the Lord, trying to do things for God, trying to be better. 'cause you think he need, there's things in your life you think are not good and maybe they're not.
Maybe they are. Maybe God doesn't even care right now about those things. Let Him be the potter and you be the clay.
Debbie:
The love of the Lord, it's the most important thing right at the beginning. You know the Lord loves you and that He gave Himself as a sacrifice for you, that you might walk in fullness, into life, into joy and into peace, all that He has for you.
Ken:
Entering in to the whole concept of really knowing the Lord, make it so very simple. The more you add to it, the more complicated it gets.
Debbie:
Start with the gospels. Start with Matthew, mark, Luke, and John. Starting there, you get the basics of what a walk with God is, what it is to have a relationship with the Lord.
Ed:
I think one of the big things is that for a new Christian, the best thing that they can start doing is read a lot of teaching, especially with Christ. Once you start getting a good foundation in there, then start including the Old Testament
Debbie:
And not to feel like you don't understand everything. You're not gonna understand everything.
Think about a little child. A little child when it's born it depends totally upon mama. When you open your heart for the first time to the Lord, you are totally dependent upon Him. You don't know what else to do. You start to take steps. As you grow up in the Lord, you will start to see things.
But it's important that you surround yourself too with people that love you. And to have a walk with God. It's important. You don't not want to be alone.
Ron:
I think that's important. After, like you said, you've opened your heart to the Lord, you're beginning the relationship with Him, talking with Him openly and freely, and you are into the scriptures. The Gospels, the new. I like the idea of the New Testament, just getting into the scriptures, reading them through, and it's starting to lay a foundation in your spirit.
All that is really, really good. But I think also it's super important what Deb's saying about connecting in with people that love the Lord, that have a mature relationship with the Lord and that you trust. You need the counsel and the covering of people that you love. That doesn't necessarily mean a pastor or a church atmosphere.
I'm talking about a spiritual people that you know that have a walk with God, and that might be church. It might be a pastor
Debbie:
Who led you to the Lord, that person, or if you just came to the Lord, which it can happen on your own. Ask the Lord to show you someone. It'll lead you to someone that can help you to understand.
Remember what Philip did for the Ethiopian Eunuch? He read to him. I don't understand, can you explain this to me? I don't get it. And he presented it to him and he was able to understand it.
Dale:
They're experiencing a new birth. They're experiencing a change in their heart. They're experiencing so many things like this, and that's where you open up the scriptures to 'em, let 'em be led by the Holy Spirit.
Pray, look to the Lord, ask to be led of the Lord, and they find it quickly. They've got a new life within them. What are they gonna do with that?
Ken:
And I think the whole idea is getting a person who accepts the Lord to realize that now you have a relationship, and in that relationship you can talk to God, like we were talking about earlier, just talk to Him.
In fact, it shouldn't be a religious way of speaking to God. He's your friend. He loves you. You've opened a door to Him, come into your life, and now you have a relationship with Him where you can talk to Him. Ask Him to lead you, ask Him to help you, ask Him to show you things.
Do you wanna know the Lord? Then you simply open your heart to the Lord and ask Him to come in. Behold, I stand at the door and knock many anyone hears my voice and opens that door, and I will come in and sub with you and he with Me.
