A Christian’s Journey

By Megan Lloyd

A Christian's Journey is divided into four sections - Discipleship - Basic Doctrines - The Care of the Soul and Insights into God's Word. The basic need in the Church today is teaching "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (NKJV) as well as to have a deeper relationship with God.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Oct 15, 2016
• ISBN: 9781483459202

Book preview

A

CHRISTIAN’S

JOURNEY

Megan Lloyd

Copyright © 2016 Megan Lloyd.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

Scripture quotations marked (GNT) are from the Good News Translation in Today’s English Version- Second Edition Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.

Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-5921-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-5920-2 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 10/5/2016

CONTENTS

SECTION ONE

The Garden of Eden

The New Birth

The Trinity

The Word of God

Prayer

Healing

Praise and Worship

Demonology

Angels

SECTION TWO

Basic Doctrines

Faith

Doctrine of Baptisms

The Baptism in the Holy Spirit and How to Receive It

The Nine Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Eternal Judgement

SECTION THREE

The Mind

The Will

Bruises of Satan

Root of Bitterness

Root of Rejection

The Root of Rebellion

The Root of Pride

Loosing of Hurts

Soul Ties

SECTION FOUR

Generation or Inherited Curses

Seven Indications of a Curse

Occult Involvement

Tests and Trials

Communion

Offenses - The Bait of Satan

Fasting

Going Deeper

The Divine Exchange

About the Author

This book is dedicated to my children:

Greg, Craig, Sandra, Kevin & Rosanne,

and all my grandchildren

Before you were born, God planned this moment in your life. It is no accident that you are holding this book. God longs for you to discover the life he created you to live – here on earth, and forever in eternity. It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ, He had his eye on us had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose He is working out in everything and everyone. (Ephesians 1:11, MSG)

The Legacy I want to leave for you is having Christ in my life. Starting off as a young Christian knowing very little, but trusting in the Lord and much prayer. realising life is a journey with a destination towards our heavenly home. It’s a journey of tests, trials and tears but through it all it only makes us stronger and closer to God, and we have a testimony to the goodness of God for bringing us through. I pray that God will put a hunger in all your hearts to go deeper with Him and that your journey in life will be as rewarding as mine is.

(Jeremiah 29:11, GNT) "I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, plans to bring about the future you hope for"

SECTION ONE

THE GARDEN OF EDEN

In the beginning, God created the earth and placed the first man and woman in the Garden of Eden, a perfect environment. The word Eden means delight or pleasure. God provided everything that Adam and Eve would need. It was His good pleasure and desire to bless them with a happy, abundant, fruitful and satisfying life. God especially wanted to have continued fellowship with them, but something went terribly wrong!

How did the fall of man occur?

o Disobedience to God’s Word.

o Adam’s disobedience. (Genesis 2:16-17, NKJV)

o And the Lord God commanded the man saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die Why was it placed there? In order to provide a test whereby man could lovingly and freely choose to serve God and so develop in character. Without free will man would have been a mere machine.

What is meant by death?

Three kinds of death - Spiritual, Physical and Eternal Separation. Adam was spiritually separated from God. (Genesis 3:6, NKJV) So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes; and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate

Satan embodied in a serpent came as a thief to steal, kill and destroy that which God had intended for Adam and Eve. Satan’s first tactic was to tempt Eve to doubt God’s goodness. Believing the lie, they were deceived by Satan and sinned against God. Man yielded to the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. (1 John 2:16, NKJV)

The consequences of the fall of man are:

o Man’s fellowship with God was broken. (Genesis 3:8-10, NKJV)

o Mankind was expelled from the garden. (Genesis 3:23-24, NKJV)

o Spiritual death was the judgment for disobedience. (Genesis 5:5, NKJV)

o Sin was spread through the human race through Adam. (Romans 5:17-19, NKJV)

o Man was lost, with no hope or means to recover himself. (Ephesians 2:12, NKJV)

In the beginning God created man in His own image. Man possessed a mind capable of logic and rational thinking, a heart to experience emotion and feel love, and a free will. Unfortunately, man exercised his gift of free will to defy his creator.

Fellowship with God Restored

When God saw that man was lost He had a plan to free him from the oppression of sin. The sacrifice of His own son, Jesus Christ, became necessary for this to be fulfilled and provided mankind’s’ only hope of being saved from the penalty of sin and death. Our fellowship with God can only be restored through the cross.

Grace

God’s unearned favor and love; the goodness of God to the undeserving; the forgiveness of sins granted entirely out of the goodness of God, completely apart from any merit on the part of the person forgiven.

Grace is God’s mercy given to those who don’t deserve it. It is the most amazing God-given gift to everyone who desires to receive it, and it’s priceless. Rather than turning His anger towards rebellious man, God extended mercy and grace. Because God’s grace is unearned and undeserved there is nothing we can do to make Him love us more and nothing we can do to make Him love us less. He loves us because He is a God of love. He chooses to love us and desires to have an intimate and personal relationship with those He freely redeemed "And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace". (John 1:16, NKJV)

Mercy

The outward manifestation is pity. It is used of God, who is rich in mercy, kindness or goodwill toward the miserable and the afflicted and joined with a desire to help them. Mercy means that, though we deserved judgment God instead extended His compassion and loving-kindness to us. His saving grace is so precious that God, with all His power, could not find any other way to redeem us but through the blessed blood of his own Son. Through Jesus everything that man lost in Paradise was restored back to him through faith. However, no man will be able to enjoy life and spiritual riches without first admitting his condition as a sinner, accepting Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, and believing in Him. There is no other way for man to be saved from the penalty of sin except by the grace of God and the sacrifice of Jesus. To reject the cross of Christ is to reject the only means of salvation, thus to remain hopelessly lost and guilty before God.

Repentance

o Godly sorrow for sin.

o True sorrow for sin, with sincere effort to forsake it.

o A change of mind or a change of purpose.

Everyone who desires to have a relationship with the Father and enjoy His blessings must have experienced genuine repentance and an understanding that there is a heartfelt sorrow for having offended God, and a real willingness of heart to take on a new direction on life, changing your mind and behavior.

What Is Salvation

o Equivalent to rescue.

o Deliverance from the power and effects of sin.

o Liberation from darkness and delusion.

o Rescue from divine judgment.

Judgement (Romans 6:23, NKJV) "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord".

Who can be saved? (Romans 10:13, NKJV) For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Whose sins did Jesus die for? (1 John 2:2, NKJV) He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

Who does God desire to save? (1 Timothy 2:4-6, NKJV) "who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Jesus Christ, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time".

THE NEW BIRTH

The New Birth is a necessity to being saved; through the New Birth you come into the right relationship to God. The New Birth is necessary before you can claim any of the benefits of the Bible. The New Birth is not: confirmation - church membership - water baptism - the taking of sacraments - observing religious duties - orthodoxy of faith - going to church - saying prayers - reading the Bible - being moral - being cultured or refined - doing