Have you ever told someone about your faith? What did it sound like? I know I’ve been pushing myself more and more in the past several years to be brave and bold about telling people I believe in God. It’s so easy to get caught up in the world’s way of saying it too. “I believe in a higher power”. But even when we, when I, say “I believe in God”, am I really professing my faith?
Professing our faith can be hard, especially when we fear being judged for it. What if we lose friends? What if we lose a job? What if people turn against us? It takes a bit of courage to admit our belief in God, and a lot of courage to admit our love for God. To all of you who have publicly expressed your faith, that’s wonderful! Keep at it! If you’re still struggling, don’t worry. We’ve all been there.
You’re probably familiar with Romans 10:9 which says “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (NIV). Let’s take a moment and notice something though. It doesn’t say “if you declare God is real”. It doesn’t say “if you profess your love for God”. I think all too often we read it that way, but what it actually says is “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’ “.
This week I’d like to offer you a challenge. Try to count how many times each day you talk about God. When you do, pay attention to the words you (and others around you) use. Are they words like “higher power”, “God”, and “spiritual”? Or are they words like “Christian”, “Jesus”, and “Savior”? So often in my own life I’ve stuck to the “safe” words of praise. I tell people I’m religious, or spiritual, or a believer in God, yet don’t say the word “Christian”. I tell people I believe God leads my life, not Jesus. It might seem like such a small difference, but I believe it is a large reflection of our hearts. Imagine if you learned that someone close to you always referred to you as “my friend”, but never said your name. As time went on, wouldn’t that feel awkward? Are they embarrassed about you? Are they ashamed to admit you’re the friend they mean? That’s how I would feel.
Matthew 10:32-33 (NIV) – “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.”
This week I pray our eyes would be opened and our hearts would be moved to recognize whether we are actually acknowledging Jesus. If you feel convicted by this, remember that you’re not alone. I’ve struggled through it, and so have many others. God Loves us even still, and he passionately wants to help us draw closer to him. If you start to doubt that, remember what Jesus did for us on the cross. 🙂
John 3:16 (NIV) – “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
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I knew nothing about setting up a blog before I started. There’s a lot of options out there, and it can be a bit overwhelming. I’ve found the best course is to start simple without worrying about all the bells and whistles. There’s a lot of great tutorials online that can help too. Best of luck, and God Bless!
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Thanks for your feedback! Unfortunately I don’t know how to get listed on Yahoo News. I’ve mostly been sharing my blog by word of mouth. It’s by the grace of God that it appeared in Yahoo News. 🙂 I do hope you’re able to get listed! God Bless!
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Thank you for your feedback, I’m glad you resonated with this so well. 🙂
God Bless!
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Thanks for your feedback! I used WordPress to help me set up the blog. I’d never done it before, so it felt overwhelming. Thankfully most of their fancy features aren’t required for getting a website up. You can easily adjust and learn as you go. 🙂
God Bless!
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Thank you so much for your feedback! God bless!