Faith's Transition

       If I had to call a witness to the stand regarding "faith transition", I would call Nebuchadnezzar to the stand. He was a no way, no how, king.  It started when he thought he was above God, asking His kingdom to bow down to his gods when the music played.  Three Hebrew boys captured into captivity refused to bow down.  This angered  King Nebuchadnezzar who ask them, " Who is that God that shall deliver you from my hands?" (Dan 4:15). You know the story. The boys were thrown into the fire. But something amazing happened to the king. He changed during the course of the event. When he saw the boys walking around in the fire and talking to a fourth person, his mind reeled saying, “didn't we throw in three? There's four in there!” When the boys walked out of the fire unharmed, the king's transformation begun.

 ^"Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. ²⁹ Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way. ³⁰ Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon" Daniel 3:28-30

Did you see the change?

       Before I came to the Lord, I sinned— a lot!  I felt no guilt and no emotional ties.  I was angry with everyone and in every situation. Then I heard the wonderful news of Jesus Christ and put Him on in baptism. Although I struggled a little in my new walk with the Lord, I kept trying to do what was right.  Satan didn't want to let go.  I fell down so much that I finally got tired of crawling to the altar, telling God "I'm sorry" for my sins. I really was tired of disappointing the Creator, who had high hopes for me. I decided to get control of ALL my sins at one time. That process frustrated me further. I became depressed and wanted to flee from the presence of God. I was embarrassed because I kept telling God I would do better but I found myself lying to Him.  So, I prayed one last time about my struggles and the Holy Spirit led me—to work on one sin at a time. I began my Christian walk of transformation. 

      I said all that, to say this: When you see new babes in Christ struggling with sin, remember what it was like with you. It wasn't  that you weren't trying, Satan didn't want you to be successful. He knows new Christians are weak. He attacks the weakest link. Reach out to help those new babes coming out of the water and let them know the struggle is real but it will get better. They have to work, not on all their sins at once, but one at a time. Once that sin is dead to them, they bury it, step on top of it and keep walking forward. Each burial and step will move them closer to Heaven.  The power they need is within them as it is with all of us. That power is the Holy Spirit. Use the force God put in you to make the faith transition. Then help someone else. This is strength that keeps on giving.