Truthfully there are many ways we can practice following God. I do believe however it takes a combination of things balanced in our life to make it all practical, and it will become evident that God really is showing up in our lives. Does that mean everything will be perfect, NO! Those who decide to follow Jesus Christ will suffer. We will go through hard times, and will not always live carefree with no issues in life at all. We live in a fallen world that is riddle with sin, and human beings with a sinful nature. Once again, we do have a God who wants us to follow him, and through all our tribulations he can, and will show up. I have seen this in my own walk with the Lord. At least a handful of times in my life I have seen God move, in my family, my character, my finances, my church, and in my community. I would like to unpack 5 things I believe will help all men stay consistent in there walk with God, so you can see his goodness in your life.
Read Our Bible
Although this may seem pretty much common sense to most Christians. At the end of the day most people are not reading their Bible on a daily basis, and it is effecting there walk with God. In this wonderful article research shows only 35% of Christians read their Bible at least once a week. Personally, this is a big reason why many Christians do not know their Bible, which in turn stops those who follow Christ from really knowing how to live in Christ. On the other hand the article shows 45% of people seldom/never read their Bible. This is detrimental in the growth of our faith in Christ. If more people even just read their Bible, there is more room to teach and preach. The morals and values in human life become different, households and the importance on family then in turn grows. A real change can occur, with just simply reading our Bibles everyday. Gods word is alive, and many men especially have yet to discover how alive it can be in their own lives.
Go to Church
Although this may seem like a simple idea. Its proven a lot of families do not make it a priority to go to church on a Sunday. When I was growing up, sports took me away from attending church every weekend. My teenage years revolved around my athletics and what ever tournament we had going on for that weekend. I get the opportunity now to go every weekend with my family to church. Noticing a drastic impact on those who make it a non-negotiable every weekend to go to a service. Just getting taught about Jesus Christ is so beneficial to our growth spiritually. Hearing Gods work spoke through someone who understands it, wants you to know the Bible, and genuinely tries to convey the absolute Truth of Gods word is very important. At the very least its a conversation between you and your spouse or family. Even throughout your week I have talk to people about what I have heard or learned from that Sunday.
Prayer
This may be one of the hardest things for most men especially to get consistent at. Taking time to just stay quiet and dig deep into your relationship with the Lord. Speaking to him intimately, letting go of things your holding on to, and telling Him your feelings and thoughts. None of these seem like very “manly” things to do. Being able to go to a quiet place, telling God what is on your heart. As much as we believe God does know what is on our heart, it is still important to be able to open up about it. When we do that He can begin to show us what it is we need to work on, maybe correct in our lives, or let go of to move on with something or someone in our lives. Prayer Jesus tells us is one of the most powerful things we as humans can do to stay in touch with the Heavenly Father, Jesus prayed all the time when he needed guidance, solitude, or fatherly love. We can learn from it, if Jesus can pray in tough times. We surely need to go to him all the time.
Worship
I love listening to worship music in my car on my way to and from work. Slow quiet worship music is not the only Christian music out there. Modern day sounds and genres of music have found its way to Christian music. Regardless of what style of music you like to listen to, I do believe just singing and praising God for what he has done in our lives shows Him we care. Its like thanking your parents over and over for raising you to be a successful man, husband, and now maybe father. God is the reason we breathe, have life, have our job, clothes, a place to live. I mean literally everything comes from God. The least we could do is sing to him no matter how bad we think we sound, and trust me I am no award winning singer. I do know however it pleases God to hear our earnest praises everyday. Truthfully speaking I also believe if we practice doing this constantly, on our bad days when we truly go through tough times. We will revert back to praising Him, and He will hear us. Worship and Prayer are two things I always think to myself, If I’m begging Jesus to save me from a situation, or take away pain or fear. I do not want Him to ever think He is my safety net. Yet he is my best friend and knows me when I am happy, ambitious, sad, angry, lonely, fearful. I want Him to know all my life so I will never feel like I left something out, especially when He knows it all. So why bother trying to hide it?
