By Justin Edwards
When one surrenders their life to the Lord Jesus Christ and is saved by grace through faith, the next step is submitting to the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. Your being justified before God is only the beginning, now it's time for you to grow in the knowledge of God through the study of His Word and applying it to every area of your life. There are other things God has prepared for you including trusting and obeying what you read in Scripture, waging war on your flesh (your sinful desires), pursuing His holiness and becoming like Him, communicating with Him through prayer (He communicates with you through His Word), sharing your faith with others, fellowshiping with other believers, worshiping and giving Him praise and thanksgiving, surrendering your finances to Him, and last but certainly not least, being obedient to His call to baptism.
Living Waters has provided you with a list of 10 principles on how to live your faith practically and biblically. And don't worry, there's no need to feel overwhelmed. If you have genuinely given your life to the Lord, He has planted His seed in you (1 John 3:9) and will work His purposes through you according to His will. So take a deep breath, rest in the grace that covers you with eternal life, and pursue and love God with all of your mind, heart, soul, and strength. Read the Bible daily and take to heart these principles. And by the way, if you don't know where to start reading, I encourage you to begin in the Gospel of John and proceed with the New Testament (John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, etc...).The following is principle number 1, and just proceed to the link to read the others (you might even want to print them out and put in your Bible). The introduction at the link is very important for you to read as well:
Save Yourself Some Pain
A healthy baby has a healthy appetite. If you have truly been "born" of the Spirit of God, you will have a healthy appetite. The Bible says, "As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby," (1 Peter 2:2). Feed yourself every day without fail. Job said, "I have treasured the words of His mouth More than my necessary food," (Job 23:12). The more you eat, the quicker you will grow, and the less bruising you will have. Speed up the process and save yourself some pain -- vow to read God's Word every day, without fail. Say to yourself, "No Bible, no breakfast. No read, no feed." Be like Job, and put your Bible before your belly. If you do that, God promises that you will be like a fruitful, strong and healthy tree (see Psalm 1). Each day, find somewhere quiet, and thoroughly soak your soul in the Word of God.
There may be times when you read through its pages with great enthusiasm, and there may be other times when it seems dry and even boring. But food profits your body whether you enjoy it or not. As a child, you no doubt ate desserts with great enthusiasm. Perhaps vegetables weren't so exciting. If you were a normal child, you probably had to be encouraged to eat them at first. Then, as you matured in life you were taught to discipline yourself to eat vegetables. This is because they would physically benefit you, even though they may not have at the time, brought pleasure to your taste buds.
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