Now What?: Practical Tips to Fuel Your Faith

By Forge: Kingdom Building Ministries

Discover foundational ways to grow in your faith, all from Forge Speakers who regularly travel the globe proclaiming the life-changing power of Jesus! Receive powerful tips to fuel your intimacy with God and engage His Kingdom cause through developing a heart on fire and life on purpose.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Forge: Kingdom Building Ministries
• Release date: Dec 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781735877556

Book preview

Introduction

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FIRST THINGS FIRST

Deciding to believe Jesus and follow Him takes a serious gut level decision. The Bible tells us that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, (Romans 10:12-15).

Have you called out to God? Have you confessed the wrong things you have done that have hurt Him (your sins) and accepted Jesus’ death on the cross as forgiveness for these sins? If so, God has forgiven you fully and joyfully adopted you as His child.

We hope the tips and tools in this book will guide you along so that every day, despite how you feel, you can decide keep walking with Jesus.

Life is now an adventure-filled journey in a relationship with your Heavenly Father. In this book are suggestions on how to keep this new relationship strong. These tips are like a map for your journey of faith.

YOU WON’T ALWAYS FEEL LIKE IT

Most people have an emotional high after making a decision to follow Jesus. But, over time emotions will come and go. The newness of your relationship with Christ will start to wear off.

Being a Christian isn’t easy. There are times when you have to struggle through it. But it’s so worth it! And in the end, it’s going to be so much more important than anything else in your life.

—Forge Participant

NOW WHAT?

Does it mean that God has taken back His forgiveness of your sins? Does it mean that Jesus is no longer walking closely with you? Does it mean that you no longer have a relationship with Him?

No, that’s not at all what it means!

Your sins are still forgiven. You’re still in relationship with God. And He’s still right there with you… whether you feel like it or not! God tells us, in Hebrews 13:5, Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.

What it does mean is that you can’t rely on your emotions. Sometimes you will be excited about God and other time you won’t be. Sometimes He will feel close to you and sometimes you’ll feel like He’s far away.

But here’s the deal: God loves you and wants to walk with you through each step of your life… regardless of how you feel or when you blow it.

In the hard times, you can go to God and be honest. He knows what you’re struggling with even before you tell Him. He’ll give you… strength to get through it. —Forge Participant

The problem is that you have a spiritual enemy—his name is Satan. He wants you to think that God doesn’t love you… or that God is like a big combat boot in the sky ready to stomp on you whenever you do something wrong. Satan is the enemy of God, and he will try to discourage you and tempt you to give up on your relationship with God.

The Bible calls Satan a roaring lion who’s looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). Satan wants to devour you. He’ll tempt you, trick you, lie to you, discourage you, and try to make you feel like a miserable failure. If you let him cause you to give up, Satan wins. And you lose. But if you resist his lies and draw closer to God, Satan loses. And you win.

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TIME TO PUT YOUR FAITH IN ACTION

The forgiveness you have received is a gift from God. You can’t earn forgiveness by anything you do. Not anything! However, your faith will be proven by your actions. They’re part of life with Christ.

Put your faith in action by changing your habits and choices. Making a decision to follow Jesus means doing something about it. As you climb over mountains of emotional highs with God and trudge through valleys of hard times, God will lead you.

Right now, you might be wondering which way to go. The tips in this book will help direct you as you walk toward a close relationship with God. The best thing you can do right now is attack your new life with all you have and start acting in faith. We want to help you fuel the spiritual fire that God has ignited in your heart.

We want it to stay lit and grow. In fact, we want your little flame to turn into a raging bonfire!

And we