A Curious Heart

The following is a list of questions my friend asked me. I thought they were really good questions:
1. - What did you do when you meet God?
2. - How is your life now that you’re a Christian?
3. - How God provide you success?
4. – How can you help people although God?
5. – How God speak with you?
6. – did you change or your feeling change?
7. – Tell me about your storms
8. – How God protect you?
9. – What does the Bible say about the storms?
10. – What does the Bible about the questions?
11. – What is the best way to meet God?
12. – How do you know that God has a better life for you?

My answers:
1. My first encounter with God came with the realization of the fundamental truth that Christ loves me. As humans, we are sinners. Our sin separates us from our Creator and Lover: God. There is nothing we can do to fix this situation. We have offended a holy God. The penalty must be of equal magnitude. (For example: the penalty for offending the president is much more severe than if you offended your younger sister.) In order to fix the situation, we must have a holy act of retribution. This holy act of retribution was fulfilled when Jesus Christ willingly died on the cross and took our sins upon Himself. It was considered holy because Jesus is God. And Jesus did this because He loves us. In order to benefit from this act, we only have to believe in its truth. When one first believes in this truth, it is absolutely mind-blowing. The only sufficient response is gratitude and a laying down of your life for Jesus. I cried harder than I ever have in my life. The only words I could utter: "Thank you Jesus. Thank you God."

2. My life has drastically changed now that I'm a Christian. I never imagined a life lived for someone else. I only understood what it meant to live for myself. Before Christ entered my life, my decisions were based on my current emotional status and desires. Decisions based on a whim can often result in embarrassment, regret, and shame. And as you can imagine, decisions based on one's personal feelings are not stable. I lived in chaos. I lived in confusion. I lived on shifting sand.

Jesus Christ is God. He created love, faithfulness, justice, joy, peace, patience, etc. He is the Rock. He is not a God of confusion or chaos. He is a God of clarity. He is forever consistent. He is forever the same. He knows everything. He is my shepherd. Therefore, since he is all-knowing, I have the best mentor in all existence. He will never stray me wrong. I have someone I can go to who will never wrong me. This provides a peace that transcends all understanding. When I don't understand something, I can rest in the fact that God understands and I am safe and secure in His hands.

My life is no longer full of fear and anxiety. Instead, I can lovingly look my Savior Jesus Christ in the eyes, and all my fear and anxiety melt away. I am free, truly free to live a life in wild abandonment fully knowing that everything will be alright because I am vigorously loved by the God of the Universe. I can do all things through Christ who compels me!

3. Biblical success can be achieved by doing the will of the Father. Hebrews 12:1 says "...let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." (Read this verse in Spanish if the English was confusing.)

Success for Jesus Christ was doing the work God had given Him to do on earth. The work was living a perfect life culminating in his crucifixion. He was successful because he reached his goal. He lived a perfect life and at the end of his earthly ministry, he was crucified as a sacrifice for all men. This is radically different from today's idea of success. Not many believe being crucified is a success.

However, success is the same for me. God has something for me to do here on earth. Doing that will mean I will become successful. All the while, I will be "looking to Jesus" to guide me. I may even be crucified? But if it is in the name of Jesus Christ, then I will be successfully crucified!

4. I don't understand question 4. Can you rephrase it?

5. Very practically, God speaks to me through the Bible. He speaks to me, as He did to the nation of Israel throughout time, through the multiple Prophets such as Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Moses, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, etc. He speaks to me through David's Psalms. He speaks to me through the Proverbs of Solomon. He speaks to me through the life of Jesus as recorded through the Gospels. He speaks to me through the disciples such as Peter, John, Matthew, and Paul the apostle.

More abstractly, He speaks to me through prayer. Sometimes I pray so hard I start to cry even if I am very happy. Sometimes I burst into laughter and I can't stop myself. Sometimes I quiver with my head on the floor. I have thoughts that I know are not of myself. It's my voice in my own head but I know they are not my thoughts. If these thoughts are consistent with Scripture (the Bible) then I am certain God has spoken to me. If Scripture doesn't speak of a specific thought I have, then I am more cautious about where the thought came from and pray more about it. I am human. I can still deceive myself sometimes. But I am getting better at distinguishing God's voice from other things. It is a still, small voice so I have to concentrate very hard. We live in a noisy world.

God also communicates with me through the Holy Spirit. In this way, I often experience very intense emotions. For example, this past summer, I wanted to go to Thailand with my friend Addison. But after I resolved to go, I had a deep unsettling feeling. I stopped eating. I couldn't see straight. I became dizzy often. I decided to go to India instead of Thailand. At the moment I decided that, my unsettling feelings ceased and I was overcome with peace. Through these emotions, God was telling me to go to India and not Thailand.

6. Like I wrote in question 2., my life has drastically changed. I'm going to focus on the way I used to think about people and how I think about them now.

Before Christ, my relationship with others was based on myself. I never truly loved anyone. I liked spending time with others because they made ME feel good. They kept me from being bored. I had no interest in their feelings. If they felt bad, I would try helping them feel better because deep down, I felt like a better person. Helping them had little to do with actually caring about them. I liked playing tennis with others because I was getting better. I liked getting good grades because others would think highly of ME. I liked talking to people, because it expanded MY MIND.

I didn't understand that life was about Jesus Christ, not me. When I realized this truth, my life was radically changed. We live for Christ, not ourselves. He gives us meaning. He gives us life. He gives us peace. He gives us EVERYTHING! He loves not because He needs us to feel good about Himself. He loves simply because He loves. He is Love. He loves people for who they are even if they are stained with sin. He loves the lowliest, dirtiest people simply because of who they are: a beautiful creation of God. God is teaching more and more every day to love like Him. Now, I can truly love people simply because of who they are instead of loving them for how they make me feel. This is true love.

7. A common misconception about Christians exists. Some believe that when one becomes a Christian, the storms in their lives cease to exist. This is false.

In reality, storms increase when one becomes a Christian. At least, they have for me. The difference between a non-Christian and a Christian, is that Jesus Christ promises to enter the storms with us. He guides us through it. He is a faithful shepherd.

A Christian can look at storms in the healthy manner of James 1:2-4, "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

When storms come, no matter how scary, Christians can be excited because it means we are being refined in the same way gold is purified. To purify gold, it is heated to a very high temperature. The impurities rise to the top and form a layer called dross. The dross is removed and when the gold solidifies, it is pure. Storms are the heat. Impurities are sins a Christian deals with. The finished product, gold, is a purer Christian more closely mirroring Jesus Christ Himself.

So if I were to answer your question, "tell me about your storms" a sufficient response would be that my storms are more than welcome. I know that the storms in my life bring me one step closer to being like Jesus and bring me closer to actually being in the presence of Jesus Himself. Being in His presence is the longing of my heart. I can't wait to see Him!

8. 1 Corinthians 10:13 - "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." (Again, you can read this verse in Spanish if the English is too difficult.)

God protects me by always promising to provide a way of escape for me from my temptations. He doesn't altogether remove my temptations for the very reason I wrote about in question 7. God allows us to go through storms/fire so we can come out on the other end as gold! And of course, He promises to go through them with us. Romans 8:26 says, "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words." It is more than reassuring to know, that the Holy Spirit is working on my behalf to help me overcome my temptations and is therefore protecting me. This idea is reinforced by Hebrews 4:15-16, "For we do not have a high priest (Jesus) who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

In addition, John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." Jesus also protects me from Hell, eternal torment. He has replaced it with a life eternally enjoying Him.

9. 1 Peter 1:6-9 reads "In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith - more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire - may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Tough you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls."

As you can in see in combination with my answer for question 7., everything, even storms, is for the glory of God. And referring back to question 3. a Christian is successful every time he/she gives glory to God.

10. All of my answers thus far have been based off of the Bible. :)

11. Meeting God is simple because He is everywhere at once. Speak and He hears you. Move and He sees you. Pray and He listens. Submit to His will and He will adopt you into His family. Faith in Jesus Christ is the only requirement to become an adopted child of God.

After meeting God, the best way to get to know Him is to do His will. We discover what His will is by reading the Bible and living for Him. Very simply put, His will is to display His glory and for all people from everywhere to know His glory and enjoy it. We get to know God by being obedient to Him and enjoying the benefits of a life spent obeying Him in love, truth, and Spirit.

12. I know God has provided not only a better life for me, but the best life. John 10:10 says, "The thief (the Devil) comes to steal and kill and destroy. I (Jesus) came that they may have life and have it abundantly." Living in God's truth means living in love, faith, joy, and peace. Christians walk in the light and they love it. There is no condemnation in Jesus Christ. We are free to be exactly who we are because we've been washed in the Blood of the Lamb!

Believing in anything else but the truth of God would be believing in the lies of Satan. John 8:44 speaks of Satan in this way: "He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies." When we don't listen to God's voice, we are prone to listening to the lies of Satan. The lies of Satan exist to wound, injure, destroy, take life, and murder.

Simply put, living more and more in God's truths = living better. Living more and more believing the lies of Satan = a life littered with more senseless pain and suffering ultimately ending in an eternity in Hell where there is constant weeping and gnashing of teeth.