I have been a follower of Christ since 1999, and since then my Christian life has been an ongoing process. I know this is not new news to many as this is the reality for most, if not all of us. But yesterday while attending a Christian gathering at the University of Pennsylvania something came to mind that reminded me of a critical part of my faith, the nurturing of it.
My desire is to have a personal, real, and practical relationship with God, but if my face is not in the Word daily, if my knees are not on the ground constantly in prayer, it is impossible to nurture my relationship with my Father in heaven. I had a picture in my mind of a fire, it started small but it became bigger and stronger as I continued to praise the Lord. So here is the portrait: the fire is our relationship with God and the wood feeding the fire is the Word of God, Prayer, serving others, loving others, being in community, sharing about Christ and much more. The fire (our relationship and passion for God) will grow if we throw more wood to it constantly. In the same way, like a fire, if we do not continue to feed it, it will fade away. If we fail to feed (nurture) our relationship with God I cannot tell you it will fade away, but I can tell you it will definitely not be the same as if we did.
In closing I want to be clear that I am NOT sharing this as simply a method we can use to nurture our faith, while ignoring the grace and will of God. It is impossible to please God while ignoring His Spirit in us. What I do want to share is that as followers of Christ we are to intentionally engage in the nurturing of our faith. We put our time in reading the Word, in prayer and God will do the rest. In all, “it is God who is working in you, [enabling you] both to will and to act for His good purpose” (Philippians 2:13).
Burn in passion for Christ for I assure you some will come to watch you burn and will catch on fire.
Keep the fire burning in you,
All for His Glory,
My desire is to have a personal, real, and practical relationship with God, but if my face is not in the Word daily, if my knees are not on the ground constantly in prayer, it is impossible to nurture my relationship with my Father in heaven. I had a picture in my mind of a fire, it started small but it became bigger and stronger as I continued to praise the Lord. So here is the portrait: the fire is our relationship with God and the wood feeding the fire is the Word of God, Prayer, serving others, loving others, being in community, sharing about Christ and much more. The fire (our relationship and passion for God) will grow if we throw more wood to it constantly. In the same way, like a fire, if we do not continue to feed it, it will fade away. If we fail to feed (nurture) our relationship with God I cannot tell you it will fade away, but I can tell you it will definitely not be the same as if we did.
In closing I want to be clear that I am NOT sharing this as simply a method we can use to nurture our faith, while ignoring the grace and will of God. It is impossible to please God while ignoring His Spirit in us. What I do want to share is that as followers of Christ we are to intentionally engage in the nurturing of our faith. We put our time in reading the Word, in prayer and God will do the rest. In all, “it is God who is working in you, [enabling you] both to will and to act for His good purpose” (Philippians 2:13).
Burn in passion for Christ for I assure you some will come to watch you burn and will catch on fire.
Keep the fire burning in you,
All for His Glory,
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