Have you ever asked yourself, "Am I too dependent on God? If all of my support mechanisms were wiped away, would my faith get me through?" It is a very important question. In the conflicting times ahead, I believe Christians will have to operate without a church, without a bible, and without the huge number of helpful tools we have right now. Could you go without ALL of it? No nothing? And still pledge obedience and full faith in our Lord and Savior?
I ask the question because I have noticed that some people lose their faith purely from reading the wrong book, or spending some time with influential people of another faith. Is your foundation flimsy? Mine probably was at some point. I was pretty angry with God many years ago. My life path had been completely changed in a way I was not happy about, and I spent some time rebelling because of that. But when my true faith returned, my connection to the Lord was stronger than ever.
I'm a big fan of the following question: "Would you take a bullet for pledging your love of Christ?" This is a scenario that many in this world have already answered, and some have become martyrs because of it. But the REAL question is...after spending time by yourself, maybe in a prison...without a bible or minister or Christian companion...would you still answer correctly? If not, then I have a suggestion for you.
Write a book. Not a long book, just enough to hammer out a few things for yourself. Go over the tenets of YOUR faith, not the faith of whichever denomination you are in. Try to sketch out exactly what makes you connect with Jesus. Try to identify your "faith flaws", and then ask yourself: "Why are they there?" Then I suggest you ramp up your prayer activities. If all of your tools are taken away, you will still have prayer. If you are locked in a dungeon, getting flogged by the enemy, you will still have prayer. So spend a little time with prayer as your only way to connect.
I go over these points because this is a very serious time that we are living in. I'm not going to claim that they are "the end times", but I doubt they are far off. Agents of Christ, on this earth and in other places, will be called upon to carry out some very challenging tasks. If you want to be really useful to our God and our Savior, it is best for you to prepare for the worst. By tuning your mind for really powerful prayer, completely unassisted, you will be doing EVERYBODY a very great service.
I ask the question because I have noticed that some people lose their faith purely from reading the wrong book, or spending some time with influential people of another faith. Is your foundation flimsy? Mine probably was at some point. I was pretty angry with God many years ago. My life path had been completely changed in a way I was not happy about, and I spent some time rebelling because of that. But when my true faith returned, my connection to the Lord was stronger than ever.
I'm a big fan of the following question: "Would you take a bullet for pledging your love of Christ?" This is a scenario that many in this world have already answered, and some have become martyrs because of it. But the REAL question is...after spending time by yourself, maybe in a prison...without a bible or minister or Christian companion...would you still answer correctly? If not, then I have a suggestion for you.
Write a book. Not a long book, just enough to hammer out a few things for yourself. Go over the tenets of YOUR faith, not the faith of whichever denomination you are in. Try to sketch out exactly what makes you connect with Jesus. Try to identify your "faith flaws", and then ask yourself: "Why are they there?" Then I suggest you ramp up your prayer activities. If all of your tools are taken away, you will still have prayer. If you are locked in a dungeon, getting flogged by the enemy, you will still have prayer. So spend a little time with prayer as your only way to connect.
I go over these points because this is a very serious time that we are living in. I'm not going to claim that they are "the end times", but I doubt they are far off. Agents of Christ, on this earth and in other places, will be called upon to carry out some very challenging tasks. If you want to be really useful to our God and our Savior, it is best for you to prepare for the worst. By tuning your mind for really powerful prayer, completely unassisted, you will be doing EVERYBODY a very great service.