Build your Faith. Start Small

Are you stuck in your Christian life? People talk about Bible study in your church, but you're not an academic. Start small, you can read a Psalm and half a chapter of Mark, Luke or John every morning or evening.

It is not important to be a trained theologian. What matters is that you gain insight from God.

But how does this wisdom come?

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Mt 7:7–8 NIV

It is better to read a little with childlike faith and feel God's heart than to read many theological books without knowing God's heartbeat.

Some pray long prayers. They speak to God, but do not listen in their hearts to hear God's answer.

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. Jn 10:27 NIV

God wants to encourage and guide you, and sometimes correct you with love. He speaks in the Bible when you seek God's guidance in your Bible reading, but not only directly through Bible texts.

Do you know any poems or worship songs? If a song touches your heart, you can worship God in that song and He can speak to you through it as well.

I was once in a blessed church service. The preacher prayed for me and I felt the loving presence of God. Then an old poem came to my mind, a poem by Heinrich Heine. Here is a rough translation.

Quiet stealing through my mind,
sweetly ringing spring song,
ring out a little spring tune,
ring out little song!

Ring out to the house,
where the flowers are blooming:
If you see a rose
tell them I send my love.

A few years later, Jesus called me to travel to Germany. After arriving in Frankfurt, I spent a few days as a house guest in a beautiful village in the Taunus Mountains.

In the morning, after a delicious breakfast, I went out into the garden. It was 25 December and spring was still a long way off. I looked around the garden until I saw a plant. There before my eyes was a rose.

God speaks through signs and wonders, but signs and wonders are not always spectacular. If your heart, eyes and ears are open to God, you will also experience signs and wonders.

Do you want to get to know God? Start small.

God's Transforming Love

What did Jesus say when he began to preach?

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God,
and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1:14–15 ESV

This is how Jesus began his ministry as a preacher. What does repentance mean? We immediately think of sin, repentance, confession, turning away from sins.

Jesus came to suffer the punishment for our sins on the cross. Jesus took our guilt on the cross. Without taking this understanding to heart, you can not be a Christian. 

"Jesus died in my place." This is the confession of a true Christian.

Repentance is a translation of the Greek word METANOIA. It means, "to change your way of thinking." We need to invite God's Spirit to transform our whole way of thinking.

Be having a change of mind regarding your former life, and be putting your faith in the good news. Wuest Expanded NT

Of course, it's not just about your thoughts. God wants to transform your whole life, and we have to be willing to go along with it from the heart.

METANOIA means repentance and transformation, but we can never do it ourselves without God's power and love. We must entrust our lives to the loving care and transforming power of God.

It is not about improving yourself and living virtuously. God's loving purpose for you goes much deeper.

Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” John 3:3 NLT

Those who allow themselves to be transformed by God are transferred from the natural realm to the heavenly realm by God's Spirit. This is like a new birth.

For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, Colossians 1:13 NLT

In a natural birth, the fetus does not become a better fetus, but a baby that needs to breathe. That is a transformation. So it is with the new birth. A new Christian must live in the realm of the Holy Spirit.
 
The new birth is the beginning of a whole new life.

The goal of a natural baby is not to become a stronger and better baby. The baby is on a journey.

A baby becomes a toddler, a toddler becomes a child. Then comes the transformation of puberty. The child is in a process of transformation. The goal is to become a man or a woman.

What does METANOIA mean? Not just turning away from sin, but an attitude of opening your whole life to God's transforming love.

Jesus had no sin from the womb, and he never sinned. He never needed to repent, but his way of thinking developed and changed at every stage of his life, just like ours.

Jesus did not live with the omniscience that belonged to his eternal being. He depended on God's wisdom at every stage of his life.

So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. John 5:19 NLT

The wisdom he needed as a preacher was different from the wisdom he needed as a carpenter. The wisdom he needed as a teenager was different from the wisdom he needed as a child.

The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favour of God was upon him. Luke 2:40 NRSV

Jesus never spoke of Christians. He talked about disciples. A disciple is one who is always learning something new. The learning process that God wants to give you includes study, but much more a process of transformation.

My way of thinking today is different from my way of thinking a year ago.
My way of thinking today is significantly different from understanding six months ago.

I don’t think I was necessarily wrong two months ago, but I am constantly receiving fresh insights from the Holy Spirit.