*Listen to the Show notes and podcast transcript with this multi-language player. Summary: Accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior is only the start, why do we say that? There must be a hunger to know Him, to seek Him, to have that personal relationship with Him on a daily basis. Show Notes: • Salvation is the starting gate. Reading, and abiding in His word to find a further revelation of Him is another step. • Paul had an initial meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus, but in Philippians he says: “That I may know him and the power of His resurrection.” • God is Love, and that is to be our expression to this earth. • Psalms 51 “Create in me a clean heart, oh God.” • Start where you are and seek the Lord, by opening your heart. • Ask Him to show you what to do, how to do it. Then do it. References: Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek Him. Mark 4:40 And He said to them, “Why are you so timid? How is it that you have no faith?” James 4:8a Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Matthew 7:26 “And everyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not act upon them will be like a foolish man, who build his house upon the sand. Titus 2:13 Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus; Luke 2:11 For today in the city of David there has been born for you a savior, who is Christ the Lord. John 16:13,14 13. “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. 14. “He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you. 1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Psalms 51 A Psalm of David. A prayer for Pardon. Luke 8:39 “Return to your house and describe what great things God has done for you.” And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him. Quotes: • If you are saved, you accept Christ as your savior and Lord, That’s really the starting gate. • If you read it (the bible) and you find a revelation of the Lord, you are reading it right. • Once you become a Christian your mindset has to change, you have to love. • And hey, the scripture jumps off of the page and where does it land? In my heart. • Paul knew that there was more to who the Lord was than what was first experienced on the road to Damascus. • The Lord knows exactly what is in our hearts. Takeaway: To find an honest relationship with God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit beyond simple salvation. To know His love for us and through us.

Ron:

Hello, Podcasters I am Ron your host and on this podcast, the family discusses what comes after our initial Salvation experience. Are there some things that we can do to initiate our growth and maturity in our relationship to God? I am praying that those who hear this podcast can open your heart to some of the steps that the Holy Spirit is revealing today to God’s sons.

If you’re saved, you accept Christ as your Savior and Lord, you don’t stop there. That’s really the starting gate in a walk with God. From that point, there needs to be a preparation of your heart in seeking the Lord in definitely in abiding in His Word. And letting that hunger increase in you. You may start out 5 minutes a day praying in the Spirit or exercising tongues if you have that gift. Maybe you will spend 5 minutes a day in the Word. I know it is just a beginning. There has to be a foundation laid where there is a hunger and a pursuit every day. I am a new Christian or a Christian. It doesn’t have to be a new Christian. But I am not pursuing the Lord and yet I am praying for miracles and signs and wonders. It is not going to happen because the Lord, is not Santa Clause. He is requiring things of His people. He is requiring a maturity. He is requiring a dedication. He is requiring a depth of perception, revelation, all these things that don’t happen just because you want them. They happen because you walk with Him every day and it is an exercise, it’s a drive, it’s a hunger and if you don’t have that then you need to ask for it. Abiding in His Word, it’s so important because His Word is where He connects His presence and in His presence is how you get led. I want to be led. Get into His Word where He can speak to you daily, and He can impart His nature daily and He will. If you’re faithful He will.

Ed:

The one thing is actually once you become a Christian is that your mindset has to change. Because now you have to love. If you don’t have that love and that love is an action. You start acting on it with other people. You’ve got to love the people of the world. You know you don’t have to do the same things that they're doing. But the love that has to come from us, comes from God. And that is what is going to change the whole earth. So, it is not a passive thing, and that unfortunately most Christians think that it is. If you cannot love your neighbor how can you love God?

Dale:

I think one of the things that we’ve got to find is a new definition for these words. And it starts, yes, with the definition what does it mean to love. Revelation; we need to have a new definition of revelation. A revelation of God is just that. He reveals Himself to you and if that revelation is true you’re going to be exposed to Him. Revelation is a relationship with the Father. I would say if I am studying the scriptures and I come across an experience from reading that passage or that chapter. God revealed Himself to me in that word. When He reveals Himself to you He is initiating an experience, He is initiating a relationship and what is your response? Psalm 51 is probably is the most complete simple teaching how to have a relationship with the Father. My goodness, I want that. And it is amazing that one Psalm how much is in it. You can take that thing and live in it and walk out the will of God for your life and be pleasing to Him. That is the message that I would like to see this podcast get out. Is an intimate one-on-one relationship with the Father that is pleasing to Him. That we become a delight to Him. That yes you can walk in completeness. You can finish. It is not just a throw it up in the air and hope and pray that something will happen. That basic tenant laid out in Psalm 51 is where we live. I open up the scriptures and I say create in me a clean heart oh God. And hey the scripture jumps off the page and where does it land? It lands in my heart, and I receive it. And I thank Him for it because He revealed Himself to me and He gave me a part of Himself that is mine.

Ron:

You don’t come by that attitude as a light follower of the Lord. In fact, I don’t think you come by that attitude on any human level. It starts out with opening up to the Lord and let the Holy Spirit walk you into it day by day. Because you’re talking about a dedication that is not common to man but probably very seldom found in humanity.

It is so anti-human, and anti-carnal mind and anti-human nature, but that doesn’t mean it is impossible. It just means you start where you are at and that is always my mantra in the morning. I start whether I feel good, where I feel bad, where I wake up happy, where I wake up sad. It doesn’t matter. I start where I am at and begin to seek the Lord. And anybody can do that. You just simply open your heart, and you start seeking God. To me, that gets rid of all the excuses. No one is going to come before the face of God and said it was too hard, I didn’t know how to do it. He makes the way so simple. You just have to want to. And it is a day-by-day walk so you may walk one day wanting to. The next day not so much, that’s you. That is not Him. He is still there in His fullness. It is up to you to open your spirit to Him every day. And to me it is exciting because I am realizing first off it is not even up to me as I continue with my walk with God I am finding out that I may have started out with a lot of vim and vigor and a lot of zealousness, and I think most Christians do, new Christians, they start with real zealousness and that begins to change because as you are in His word, He starts transforming you and it becomes, His drive, His faith, His hunger. It is a pretty imperceptible change but what ends up happening is you come into a revelation that Christ dwells within me. His word dwells within me. Christ dwells within me and as I connect in daily with the Lord in His word, in worship, He takes over my life more and more. And it is really exciting because there is an initiative that we can take. It is not just I will sit on my butt and the Lord going to lead me, nah, it won’t happen. But if I take and initiative every day to approach Him then He starts working His Lordship and His will and everything in me. His worship, the cleansing that Dale is talking about. You know, that doesn’t happen because I want it to happen or because I am a good person, or I am going to worship, you know clean up my life or any of that. We are not going to get glory for a blessed thing. It is initiative we take by faith, and He takes over.

Deborah:

The Lord loves us, and He gave Himself for us, and the Lord knows exactly what is in our hearts. You accept the Lord, and the Holy Spirit comes into your life, you want to know more, so you open up more and the way you open up is you ask. You ask the Lord to show Himself to you. Ask Him to show you what you are to do. And how you are to relate to Him and start doing it. Baby steps, more and more that you do it the easier it will become. He requires more of your time, requires more of your attention because He loves you and He wants to know you. He wants you to know Him. It is all a part of our walk with God.