All believers have a story that begins when we accept Yeshua as our savior. While I accepted Yeshua into my heart as my savior at a young age, I didn't really have an active relationship with Him. I had not realized how important it is to spend time investing in my relationship with Him. While we are considered believers and will ultimately get to heaven if we have salvation, it needs to go farther than that in our everyday lives. We need to continually choose to spend time with God in order to have an active and growing relationship with Him.
When I was younger, I went through life making choices that would put me ahead. I didn't really care about other people or how my decisions affected those around me. When I started to strive for a relationship with God, things began to change. Slowly but surely, I started to think about how my actions looked to God. I started to think about certain aspects of my life and how they would hurt my witness if I continued to act the way I did. Instead of just doing and saying whatever I want, I am now learning to think things through. I don't want to tell people about Yeshua and how He is a part of my life and then have them think, “Then why is she so inconsiderate? Aren't believers supposed to be loving and kind?” As I spend more time with the Lord, I start to realize changes in my everyday life.
John 15:5 says: “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in Him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” Our relationship with God is important. If we try to live our lives without God, we won't succeed. Like I said before – I used to live my life how I wanted. I tried to “bear fruit” without the Lord. Guess what? It didn't work. I got myself into a lot of trouble that I could have avoided if I had listened to God and not myself. How do we have a relationship with Him, though? As long as you are consulting God in prayer, reading your Bible, and overall trying to make Godly decisions, it will in turn strengthen your relationship with Him. However, I know it isn't easy to do all those things. Even if the time you put into your relationship with God isn't as consistent as you would like it to be, the important thing is that you're trying. God doesn't keep score of the days you don’t prioritize your time with Him.
Though I am not always daily consistent in my time praying and reading my Bible, I can rest in the truth that I am saved, and I will meet God in heaven one day. However, sometimes I need a reminder that no matter how badly I mess up or fall from grace, I still have my salvation, which is the only thing that will get me to heaven. Even when I am constantly reminded of this, I still feel guilty for not being more spiritual. Many people like me get caught up in trying to read their Bible every day without really focusing on the relationship we need to have with God. We tend to treat Bible reading and prayer like an item on a to-do list. Why? It should be something we enjoy doing. I think that the everyday part of being a believer (reading the Bible, reading a devotional, spending time with God, etc.) is hard, yet we need to do it to strengthen our relationship with Him so that we can listen to what God is telling us. When I need to make a major life decision, my relationship with God will help me with that. While salvation is what is getting me to heaven, a relationship with the Lord is guiding me through life until that point. Since I accepted Yeshua at a young age, like many of you, I am already going to heaven. Now my focus needs to be on spending time with God, and bettering myself so that everyone I come across sees the light of Yeshua in me.
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