A page from my walk with God

I always try not to get too personal in my blog posts mainly because I really value my privacy. However, I’ve decided to be sharing some of my personal experiences relating to my Christian walk. My desire is that by so doing, other believers may be encouraged in their own relationship with God.

I first accepted Jesus as my Lord and Saviour when I was about 13years old. Prior to this, I vividly remember my mum once asking me when I would get saved, and my response to her was, "when I understand what being saved is all about." I always wondered what thoughts went on in her mind as a result of my statement, but she recently told me she was quite satisfied with it. Well, I later responded to an altar call one Sunday in church after a sermon that moved me.

However, as I grew older and began to handle life on my own, I found it tasking keeping up with being born-again. The fact that after High School, I left the shores of Nigeria to the United States to pursue my University education, further compounded issues for me. The life I lived in America (being a student and working) hardly left much time for me to get engaged in church activities the way I'd wanted to. As years went by, I started to become lukewarm in the things of God. Not that I denounced my faith, but it took a backseat to everything else in my life.

A number of years down the road, certain events happened in my life which made me sit back and question everything I’d understood about salvation. By this time I was back home in Nigeria and had a family of my own. I found myself having to go through some unpleasant experiences which made me doubt my faith in God. I wondered if He really had been watching over me like His word says. I wondered why He didn't speak to me before I made certain decisions that led me to this moment. I was seemingly confused as to whether I was truly born-again. This was roughly four years ago.

What I want to share today is the fact that it was in the midst of this very turbulent storm that God began to reveal certain truths about salvation to me. It was then I got the understanding that in order for you to really embrace God, you have to get to the end of yourself. You have to come to a point where everything you know, fails you. I got the revelation that for you to be truly saved, you have to actually need salvation. You must come to a point where your only option is complete faith in God.

I have now understood that being a born-again Christian is about being sold-out to Jesus. It is about placing God first in your life, above everyone else. It is about dying to yourself (your needs, your wants, your feelings, your wisdom & knowledge), and living for Jesus. This is what Jesus meant when He said we must take up our cross and follow Him…we must sacrifice our lives on the altar of the cross and receive a new life which is totally yielded to His will and purpose.

Being saved is not just about reading your Bible once or twice a day, but it is about allowing the word of God to take residence in your heart. It is not about going to church once/twice a week. Yes, we must not forsake the gathering of the brethren. But fellowship with other believers and serving God should be done out of our love for Him, not as a legalistic ritual or religious routine. We should do these things; (pray, obey the word, and participate in church activities) because we want to please God. Even our giving of tithes and offerings should be done as an act worship and love for Him, not as a legalistic practice.

This is the first of a few posts I’ll be writing on yielding to God’s purpose. The truth is that until you surrender wholly to God, you will never really enjoy the salvation Jesus obtained for you by His death and resurrection.