Baby Steps for Believers

By Chuck Wolfinbarger

None of us start out walking in life. We all begin with baby steps. It is one step and then two and so on. Many times we expect new believers to start right out walking along in their newfound faith. But we were told by Jesus to make disciples, and the word disciple means learner. In this devotional book, one will learn to take a step at a time. And at the end of each week, they can gather with an older believer and others to share how they are doing. We are not designed to live the Christian life alone, just as a baby is not designed to grow up alone. So let me encourage you to take these steps with someone at your side until you can help someone else begin this journey.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 11, 2021
• ISBN: 9781098058876

Book preview

Week 1, Day 1

The Greatest Relationship of All—Knowing Jesus

As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

—1 Peter 2:2 (NKJV)

This week, memorize John 15:15 (NIV), I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. God came to find You.

UP—Prayer

Father, I want to thank you that you chose to come and live here on the earth through Jesus Christ. I want to thank you that you came looking for me in order to allow me to become your child. Thanks for looking for and finding me in Jesus’s name. Amen.

IN—Word

Read John 1:1, 14 (NIV), In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only. Who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

God created people to have a relationship with Him. That is what Genesis tells us about. Remember that Adam and Eve did the one thing that God told them not to do and sinned. They ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When they did that, their relationship with God was broken. They even ran and hid. People have been hiding from God ever since. They hide because of sin in their life. God came to fix that broken relationship. He sent Jesus into the world to pay for all sins. Jesus is the Word in this verse. He is God. He came to live in this world and die for it. He came looking for us so we could have a new relationship with God. He came to find you!

OUT—Challenge

Has He found you? Have you come to the place in your spiritual life that you have invited Jesus to come into your life and be your forgiver and leader? Do you know for certain that you have a relationship with Him? Right now you might want to invite Him to come into your life. Just ask Him. Ask Him to come in and forgive all your sins. Thank Him for dying on the cross for you and arising from the dead on the third day. Tell Him that from this day forward you will follow Him and will help Him look for others who need to know Him. Tell a friend today about your decision. Soon set up a time you can follow Him in believer’s baptism. If you already made that decision, tell a friend who does not know about Jesus Christ today.

Week 1, Day 2

What Jesus Did for Me

UP—Prayer

Thanks for loving me enough to come and die in my place on the cross. I admit that I should have been the one who died because of my sins. Thanks for loving me enough to take my punishment. Help me to love you enough to live for you in Jesus’s name. Amen.

IN—Word

Read Romans 5:6–8, You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

All of us have heard stories of soldiers giving their lives for their buddies during a war. They fell on a grenade to save their group or stepped in front of a bullet so that their friend would not have to die. I am always moved to tears when I hear these stories. I have never heard a story that describes how a guy dies for the enemy. But that is exactly what Jesus Christ did for us. We were sinners and enemies of God because of our sins. He came and died to pay for those sins so that we could become friends of God and not enemies. Can you imagine dying for people who are cursing you as you die? That is what Jesus went through. The very people that He died for were shaking their fists or making fun of him. He loved them and died anyway. He died for you so that you could have a relationship with God. He took all of your sins upon himself and said, I will pay for them with my own blood. That’s what Jesus did for you and me.

OUT—Challenge

Do you have any friends that could care less about God? Do you have any friends that are totally uninterested in having a relationship with Him? Make a list of those friends and start to pray for them. Ask God to touch them and help them come to understand what Jesus did for them on the cross. Do kind things for them to show them that you really care about them.

Week 1, Day 3

What Do You Want Me to Do?

UP—Prayer

Lord, help me to understand exactly what you want me to do. I want to thank you for offering to me the gift of eternal life. Help me to receive it and then share it with my friends in Jesus’s name. Amen.

IN—Word

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