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It can be difficult to know where to start in your faith journey at the beginning. When I first came to God, I was unsure of where to start in order to grow in my faith, but luckily, I had a few people guiding me in that area of life. However, I still struggled in some aspects and that is why I want to share these tips with you, just in case you too are struggling to find your footing.
Pray Daily
Prayer is extremely important when it comes to your walk with the Lord so make sure that you are incorporating this into your everyday life. If you do not know how to pray use Matthew 6:9-13. This is the Lord’s prayer and when you do not have the words to pray this can be a good prayer to pray.
Also, if you do not know how to pray you can just say to God what is on your mind. Prayer doesn’t have to be difficult or pretty to be effective. As you continue to grow in your faith and practice prayer you will learn how to pray deeper prayers and reach out to the Lord in other ways but for now just pray whatever comes to your mind. Remember God will still answer your prayers even if they do not sound poetic or beautiful.
Prayer Journal
If you struggle to stay focused why you pray get a prayer journal. Prayer journals are a great way to help your mind stay on track if you get easily distracted. Another reason they are great is because you can use them to track your prayers which makes it easier to see the prayer that God has answered.
Get into the Bible
Once you get comfortable praying daily my next tip is to start reading the Bible daily. I know the Bible might seem scary, but there are so many things that God can speak to you through the Bible. You will be able to learn amazing things through God’s word if you bring it into your daily quiet time with the Lord.
Do not read the Bible in order from cover to cover. Personally, I believe the best place to start is in the Gospels. If you are new to reading the Bible and new to Christianity pick one of these chapters in the Bible and start reading, Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. These books of the Bible will help you to understand who Jesus is and what He did for us. They will help you have a greater understanding of your faith because you will understand the sacrifice that Jesus made for each and everyone of us.
Bible Version
Find a Bible translation that works for you because not all translations are easy to read. I use the New International Version because it works for me, but sometimes I will read the Message Version to help me understand a passage that I might be struggling with. My pastor always told me it is okay to use the Message Version to help me understand but not rely on it because things can get lost in the translations. I know that is the big reason why many people use the Kings James Version. However, I personally do not use that version because it is too difficult for me to understand.
Find a Church Community
A church and its community will help you grow in ways that you cannot grow on your own. The Lord works in so many ways through our relationships that He cannot work in our own one on one time with Him. By finding a church and getting involved in groups at my church I have grown immensely in my faith because of the advice, support, and prayers of those in the groups. Through having people to speak to and bounce questions off that I started reflecting and finding way I could grow. If you are apart of a church but are not involved get involved because it takes more than sitting in that pew to grow in your faith.
Get a Mentor or Friend to Talk With
Find someone you trust that is further in their faith that you can ask questions to and will offer you guidance in the right direction. A mentor should be someone that can offer you advice and someone that will provide you with bible verses and prayers when you are needing them. Take time to find someone who will truly listen to you and offer you sound advice that is rooted in God and His word.
Trust God
Another tip I have for you might not be the easiest, but it is one of the most important and that is to trust God. God loves you and cares for you. He is carving a path out for you and that path might be a little bumpy and curvy, but it will be a beautiful path in the end. Trust God because He knows the end! You might not understand what He is doing, but you do not know the whole picture, but God does. If you are struggling to trust God read the Bible verse Proverbs 3:5.
Share your testimony
Your testimony no matter how messy, crazy, scary or boring it is important! Sharing your testimony could help someone else come to know God. Your testimony is your story and people want to hear stories they want to know how a personal relationship with God changed their life because it shows them how God could change their own life.
Know that God is a Good and Loving Father
Finally, my most important tip for you is to know that God is a caring and loving Father. He is a good God! God gives His people grace. He has grace for you and all you have done. Faith isn’t about being perfect. We are all messy people. Faith is going to be messy. It is going to have its ups and downs. Faith isn’t going to look exactly how we thought it was going to look, but it doesn’t have to be perfect. Faith doesn’t have to be perfect because we are an imperfect people, but it is about sharing that imperfectness with others and sharing with them that God still loves all of us through it.
If you make a mistake God still loves you! He might ask you to do better next time and He is going to want you to learn from your mistakes, but He isn’t going to be done with you when you make one. God cares for you no matter what you have done!
Growing in your faith isn’t always easy, but I hope that these tips will help you to know where to start if you are at the beginning of your faith journey. Know that your walk with the Lord wont always be easy, but do not allow that to discourage you because God is walking with you through it. Lean on God and ask Him to show you how to grow deeper in your faith.
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My Testimony and the Importance of Sharing Your Testimony
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