Your part of this preparation is Prayer (spending time talking with God), the Bible (learning about God as your Father: who is He and what does He expect and desire), Fellowship (spending time in the company of other Children of God), Growing in Christ (developing as a Child of God) and Giving. To answer the question that most commonly arises: NO, you will never give to me.

Your Giving is to God and to be real honest, I don't even want it to come to me or pass through my hands. A Christian's first responsability in Giving is to his or her local church. It is that same local church that will be providing for your Spiritual Feeding, so, it is that body which should receive. Do not send anything to me except this. If you believe that this site has been a benefit to you, connect someone else to it. Let your friends know, put a link on your page or something. I don't make any money from this, but I do believe that we all pile up credit in Heaven for whatever we do for its growth. Now, back to the list above.

Prayer is talking with God. One of the best ways in the world to get to know someone is conversation. If you and I could spend ten or twenty minutes each morning and each night in conversation on the phone, it wouldn't be very long before we knew each other fairly well. If you would call me each time you had a crisis, you could also have my wisdom and insights on the crisis. Now, I am not the be all and end all in wisdom, God is. And I am not the one you most need to get to know, God is. For this reason, I suggest that you start each day with a little prayer time, asking your new Father to help you make it through the day. I also suggest that you spend some time at the end of the day thanking Him for what has come your way and asking how you could have handled it better. This is also a good time to share what you enjoyed about your day. When you talk to your spouse or other friends, you might say, "The funniest thing happened today." Why not also do the same with God, your very best friend? This really helps build Relationship.

Bible reading is another great way to get to know your new Father. In fact, it is better than most, because it shows you what He has done in the past under thousands of circumstances and how He has responded to His people in need and in good behaviour and misbehaviour. It helps us know more about how He is probably going to deal with us as we do things right and wrong. The Bible is like a track of God's footprints through time, allowing us insights to His very heart. It is also a book of Law defining for us what He would have us do and not do. The Bible is also a book of principles and guidelines that will help us make better decisions every day. And it is a book of Promises from someone who has never failed to keep His Word. But it is much more than that, and to thoroughly explain that could take considerable time. Even from a strictly "Literary" point of view, it is the single most important collection of writings of all time and should command precedence and priority above and b eyond Shakespeare, Homer, Twain and the New York Times. There is absolutely nothing that you could ever read that would be even ten percent as benefitial to your life, either in life or in eternal life. And, while eternal life may not be something everyone thinks about every day, it began the day of your conception and continues through Forever, so, we better think about it.

Fellowship is another aspect of the Christian Life that is very important. In fellowship we can see what God has done in the lives of others and be encouraged. We can learn if what we thought a passage in the Bible means what we thought it meant. Also, as you may get to know me better by spending time with my family, spending time with God's family helps you know Him better. And Please, understand that I keep saying "know Him" because I do not mean to "know about Him". I KNOW my wife. I KNOW ABOUT George Washington. There is a significant difference.

Growing is something which will come as you do the other things. It is a fruit of the willingness to be molded by God into His image. As of the moment of your New Birth you are as a babe in Christ, even if you seventy years old and have a doctorate in comparative religions. Your age and history may be helpful in your growth as a Christian when you reflect back and see what God has been doing to bring you to adoption, but they are no substitute for Spiritual Maturity. It is very common to find that a fifty year old man (babe in Christ) can be lead to greater maturity by a twenty five year old kid who has know the Lord half his life. As someone who has made the most logical and mature decision of your life you can readily see the logic of learning from someone a little farther down your road.

Giving is one of the ways that the people of God show their FAITH in Him. For me and mine, it is not a matter of Law as much as a matter of Faith. We trust God in every aspect of our lives to do what is best for us, and I beleive that it would be foolish to say, "We trust God with everything, except Money." If one doubts that God knows anything about money, I would like to recommend that they do a little research. If we look at the whole Bible, we will find that it speaks more about the obtaining, keeping and management of money and property than it does about any other subject. Why? Because God knows that it is the singlemost likely thing in the world for us to make our god. Money is power and comfort and we have a terrible tendency to rely upon it in every way. But, God wants us to rely upon Him in every way. That is why giving becomes a matter of faith. It shows that we do not trust money as much as we trust God. When we do that, He rewards us in ways that cannot be expected or understood. Between tithes, offerings and temple taxes, the average Old Testament Jew was giving about twenty three percent of his earnings to God in one way or another. During those periods when this was the standard pattern, the Nation was wealthy, the people were free of oppression, the harvests were plentiful and life was good. Does that sound like America today? You figure it out. I recommend the Tithe as a place to start. For more information about our experience in this, drop us a note.

Finally, do drop us a note to let us know about your decision. We will be glad to help you in any way we possibly can. We will pray for you and get others to pray for you, stay in contact with you (at your discretion), help you find a local church, try to introduce you to someone nearby that will be a friend and encourager or mentor and teacher. In short, we will treat you as any Christian should treat a brother or sister. If you have made the decision to become a Christian then you have stepped over the lines from Enemy to Family. We are now responsible for you. We take that very seriously and we take you very seriously. You are infinitely important to us and to God and we will do our best to be here for you, and He will be there for you even if we fail. We are limited humans, but He is not. He is unlimited, all powerful, ever present and ever loving you. Trust Him.

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Copyright Keith Jenkins 1997

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Christians Helping Christians Award for outstanding excellence in your Christian Web Site design on Aug.28, 1997. God bless you as you continue to spread the Gospel of Jesus across the 'net !