"I just dont feel His presence"

"I dont know what Gods will for me IS anymore"

"Im not the kind of Christian I think I should be"

Ever hear comments like that? Ever FEEL like that yourself?

If youre breathing, and have a beating heart, youve probably felt this way at least once, since the day you received Christ as your Saviour and Lord.

Because I host a Christian chat room, for many years now, I have watched believers come online, anonymously, and make statements that many of them either do not have the courage to admit to their pastors or friends in their local fellowship. For some reason, MANY Christians have this idea that they have to appear super-spiritual to all who are watching them, and they cannot let on, that something might be wrong. Now while we are indeed called to be salt and light, we are not called to be phony or pretend everything is fine, with everything is NOT fine.

If this sounds like something youve dealt with, or if this IS you, right now, this article is for you.

Oftentimes when someone makes a comment like one of the ones that opened this article, I like to offer a comparison scenario.

If a man goes 1 full week, without any food at all, how do you think that man might feel at the end of the week? What if he went 2 weeks... 3 months... 6 months... 4 years?

Obviously, even after a short period of time, if a man goes without nourishment for his body, his body will begin to suffer the consequences of that neglect. When you deprive your body of what it needs to function properly, you feel the affects almost immediately.

This same principle applies to a mans spiritual health, as well. When it is neglected, he begins to feel sick, and weak. His faith begins a downward spiral, doubts and temptations bombard him, day in and day out. Hope, peace, prayer, study and reflecting on the goodness of God, seems like things for OTHER people, not him.

I believe it is absolutely essential, to keep your minds and hearts fixed on God, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This might sound impractical, or unrealistic to some people, but it is truly, the only way to live, without becoming spiritually malnourished.

Below I will list some very simple guidelines, practical steps for the new believer, or the believer who knows these things, and has slipped off into the things and cares and worries of the world.

1. READ YOUR BIBLE, EVERY DAY

Everyone has a different reading plan, and different advice on this, some say read a Proverb a day, some will say start in Genesis and read 1 chapter every day, still others say go back to the gospel of John, then go to Romans, then back to Genesis. ALL of these are good. All sorts of other reading plans are good too, the point is, to GET into Scripture each and every single day. Some commit to 5 minutes a day, some prefer 1 hour. It doesnt matter really, as long as you pick a plan, and stick with it.

What this will do, is feed your soul. Youll come across something that you may have read 15 times before, and suddenly youll see it saying something that you never noticed before. I believe when that happens, its because you have grown in Christ. The more we grow, the more we understand, this applies in everyday life, and in our walk with Jesus as well.

One really good reading plan that I like, is a topical plan. Instead of books at a time, you can read by issues, at a time. The Naves Topical Bible was created just for this purpose. The copy I have in my hand right now says

"More than 20,000 topics and subtopics, Over 100,000 references to the Scriptures."

From children, to freedom, to pain and wisdom, and every topic that affects the human heart and mind as well, youll find them all addressed in the Bible.

Another excellent way, is daily devotions, (and there are more devotional Bibles out there than you can shake a stick at!) either morning or evening, or whenever you have quiet time to read, and reflect on what youve read.

Pick a plan, open your Bible, and just stick with it.

2. PRAY EVERY DAY

You folks who are reading this, would be surprised at the number of people I talk to each and every day, who say they love the Lord, believe every word in the Bible (whether they understand it or not), who admit that they do not pray every day, or even once a week. Some havent prayed for months.

The first time I started hearing this, I was shocked. I thought how can someone be saved, and never pray?. It didnt make any sense to me, at all. The more I talked to people, the more I understood, that time spent in prayer wasnt something they were taught was as important as it truly is. Sort of like feeding your kids candy all the time, never teaching them fruit is what they need instead and they just never realize the harm they cause themselves, by not consuming the proper foods.

If a man and woman get married, have a wonderful life together, sharing things, spending time with each other, and just loving each other then suddenly, or even gradually, just stop all of that, what kind of a marriage are they left with? What would happen if the wife just quit talking to the husband? Now some of you reading might say "hed likely be the happiest man alive!", but in reality, hed be hurt, and left wondering why she didnt come to him anymore. And what if the husband just as suddenly, or even gradually, stopped telling her how much he loved her, and how glad he was that she was a part of his life? The marriage would be strained at best, and she would be left wondering if he really did still love her.

In a sense, this is how prayer is, between us and the Lord. Quiet time with Him, telling Him thank you, for all the blessing we have, how much we love Him, confessing our weaknesses and seeking strength not to blow it again, and even going to Him on the behalf of others, who are sick or weak or hurt.

I heard one lady tell me she didnt have time to pray. She said she gets up at 6 am, and goes to bed around 11 pm, and is so busy all day long with kids, chores, work, errands outside the home, dinner, bath-time for the kids, homework and more chores, that by the end of her 17 hour day, she had NO time to pray. I asked her to time herself saying "Thank you Almighty God for saving my soul, lead me in your ways today, in the name of Jesus I pray, amen", and see if she could fit that 14 second prayer, somewhere into her 17 hour day. I needed not say anything else she got the point.

3. GO TO CHURCH

Over the years, with the increase in traffic on the Web, the numbers of believers who confess that they do not go to church, for all kinds of reasons, has just astounded me. Granted, there are some folks in circumstances that prevent them from being able to attend weekly services, and those folks are excused, for the most part.

But for the rest of the believers, its a matter of finding a church, if you dont have one, and GOING. That may sound simple, and sometimes it IS that simple, but other times its not. Its not easy these days to find a church in your area that holds to the Scriptures, and points the members to them as well. For this purpose, we have added a Church Directory link at the Bible Fellowship Community, to help anyone find a REAL church to worship in. The list is not very large, but its a start.

There are those who have been called OUT of a church, for all kinds of reasons, who have not been able to find another church to call home, yet. Our own family was in that very position for longer than I care to think about. We visited other churches, we held family devotion time almost every single night, and we just studied the Scriptures a little more, and prayed a lot more. We listened (and still do) to a lot of sermons online (see the Awesome Audio link at the Bible Fellowship community while youre there), and just KEPT looking for a nearby church that taught the Bible, and ministered to the family. God has been faithful to this family, over and above what any of us could have ever hoped, in so many ways, but also in the way of finding a church for us, as well. Were still VERY new there, but we believe this is the place we will be able to call our home church, God willing, for many years to come. (Guess we should tell the pastor, eh?)

Some believe they dont need church. I have no idea where this foolishness came from, but that is exactly what it is. This is not to insult anyone, this is to call foolish ideas, exactly what they are.

If we did not need the fellowship, the edification, the prayers, the singing praises to our God, the sermons (and for you Baptists, the potluck suppers), the church of Jesus Christ holy Lamb of God, would not have existed for the last 2000 years. The Bible is VERY clear on our instruction in this. We are to be mindful of other believers, to urge them on to do what is right, and what would please the Lord. Were to NOT stop getting together, and instead encourage each other to this, even MORE, the closer the day of the Lord comes. (We are officially, by all laws of time and reason, closer to that day right now, than we were when you started reading this very sentence).

Find a church, go, and keep going, every week, or as least as much as is possible.

These are very simple things, that will make all the difference in your spiritual health, and in your relationship to Christ Jesus. Of course there is so much more to the life a believer, but these three things tend to be the ones that others tell me are neglected, time and time again. A person can read all the books in the world, hit every cool website out there (and when you find them, send me the links!), have some amazingly deep theological discussion and debates in Christian chat rooms and discussion forums (they have their place, and they do bless people, big time), but none of these things can, or should ever, replace face to face fellowship with like-minded believers, if at all possible.

I do hope this article has helped you see things in a different light. Now the question is, what do you plan to do about it? Thats between you and Him.

God bless you as you consider these things.

© Carla Rolfe 2000