Article by: Kenneth J. Ester
How Do I Stay Right With God?
I have already gone over Why Should I Get Saved and How Do I get Saved. In this article I am going to go over the extreme importance of knowing How to stay right with God.
When I was originally saved, this was never really explained to me. In many churches and with many preachers, their minds are set on getting people saved, but in the desire to bring more souls to God, they tend to forget how important it is to teach people how to stay saved.
Wait a minute! Once Saved, always saved! The Bible teaches us that we cannot lose our salvation!
The truth is nobody can take it away from us, but we can throw our salvation away. The Bible clearly stands by this and I dove into this debate in another article, "Can Christians Lose Their Salvation?". Another verse I have since come across that solidifies that one can lose their salvation is Matthew 7:21.
Matthew 7:21
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
This verse makes it very clear that there is more to being saved than just saying words and believing in your heart. It also means you need to do the Will of God.
I was saved in the early 1980's. I Asked God to forgive me for my sins, I believed Jesus is Lord and I confessed it with my mouth. I was baptized and I even became a Sunday school teacher for children. I prayed and went to church and I had several experiences in my life where I felt Gods presence and I had even been slain in the spirit and my back healed. But there was one thing I wasn't taught the importance of. Asking God to forgive me for my sins every day. I didn't do that.
When someone sins, it does not mean they automatically lose their salvation. But when you sin, it becomes a barrier between you and God in your relationship with God. If it is not forgiven, it will never go away. Every day when you sin more, those sins will pile up and build a wall between you and God. That is what happened to me.
I stopped reading the Bible. I still went to church and I prayed but I wasn't feeling Gods presence anymore. I fell into sin and the more I sinned, the more I became a slave to sin. I fell into all kinds of sins I wont even talk about anymore I am so ashamed of it all. I started hating myself and I grew angry with God. I destroyed some great friendships and finally I left it all behind me.
I know I was saved, but I allowed myself to be dragged into the world of sin and it pulled me down and buried me in it. I have zero doubt that if I would have died during those years, I would have never made it to heaven. Today I know that there is more to being saved than just getting there. One needs to be diligent in their walk with God and stay there as well.
But How Do You Stay Right With God Then?
Rule #1 - Pray a lot! Pray when you wake up. Pray when you go to bed. Pray when you eat meals and pray every time you have a down moment. This will sound silly but if you are sitting on the toilet? Pray!
Your relationship with God is like any other relationship in the world. It is a living thing that you need to constantly tend to, and one of the most important tools to any good relationship is communication! When you pray, don't only ask for things, but thank God for what He has done for you. Thank Him for drawing you to Him. Tell God about your problems and worries and thank Him for being their for you through those things. If you are not praying at least three times a day, every day, you aren't praying enough! And the more you pray the better.
Rule #2 - Forgiveness! Forgiveness is like love. It is a two way street. You need to forgive others for things they do against you and you need to ask God to forgive you for your sins.
Sin is not just disobeying the ten commandments. It is not breaking one of Gods many commandments. The word Sin means to "Miss the Mark" when you translated it from the Greek word. Any time you miss the mark on what God would want you to do, you are sinning. Every one of us miss that mark multiple times every day. Every one of those misses will pile up on that wall that will divide you from God if you don't ask God to forgive you for them. So don't only ask Him to forgive you for sins you realize you did, but always ask God to forgive you for any sins you may not realize you committed as well. As long as you keep yourself forgiven of all sins, there is nothing but your own decisions to get in the way of you being right with God.
Rule #3 - Read His Word! Someone once told me that when you read the Word, you are feeding the Holy Spirit. I don't know if that is honestly backed up in the Bible, but it actually makes a lot of sense. I think of it this way. The old cliche' "You are what you eat!" The more we feed God into our minds and hearts, the less room there is for the desire to sin.
As ashamed as I am of this, I had become addicted to porn. It had a real hold of me and no matter how hard I tried to stop looking at it, I always ended up doing it. The more I did it the more I hated myself for it too. It wasn't until I truly gave myself over to God and started reading the Bible every day and praying multiple times a day and always asking for his Forgiveness that I stopped. The more I filled myself with God, the less I desired that sin. I don't even think about doing it anymore.
Don't only read the Bible, but study it as well. Find subjects that you are curious about and dig into them. Look them up online. Read articles by others on them and don't be afraid to read article for both sides of a discussion. Look for the truth and let the Holy Spirit guide you on which one is right. And for God's sake, use logic too! I would ask you to include my articles in your studies and if you ever find that you believe I am wrong about anything, email me and let me know. If I am wrong I want to know. If I find you are missing something I will let you know. Its not a battle of who is right, it is about learning the truth. In the end however, the more you are focusing on God and Jesus, the better your relationship with God will be.
I would suggest anyone to go to Church and often. It is the presence of the Lord and the support of other Christians and the leadership of a good Pastor you will find in churches. These are wonderful things. They are not absolutely necessary to be right with God though. Those things will help you and make it easier to stay right with God. Church is a great tool that every Christian should use but Praying, Forgiveness for sins, and Reading Gods Word are the three most important ingredients that your relationship with God cannot live without.
If you ever have any questions about this article or any other, feel free to ask.
Other articles in Getting Saved series....
Part-1 "Why Should I get Saved?"
Part-2 "How Do I get Saved?"
Return to One God Logic Articles
When I was originally saved, this was never really explained to me. In many churches and with many preachers, their minds are set on getting people saved, but in the desire to bring more souls to God, they tend to forget how important it is to teach people how to stay saved.
Wait a minute! Once Saved, always saved! The Bible teaches us that we cannot lose our salvation!
The truth is nobody can take it away from us, but we can throw our salvation away. The Bible clearly stands by this and I dove into this debate in another article, "Can Christians Lose Their Salvation?". Another verse I have since come across that solidifies that one can lose their salvation is Matthew 7:21.
Matthew 7:21
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
This verse makes it very clear that there is more to being saved than just saying words and believing in your heart. It also means you need to do the Will of God.
I was saved in the early 1980's. I Asked God to forgive me for my sins, I believed Jesus is Lord and I confessed it with my mouth. I was baptized and I even became a Sunday school teacher for children. I prayed and went to church and I had several experiences in my life where I felt Gods presence and I had even been slain in the spirit and my back healed. But there was one thing I wasn't taught the importance of. Asking God to forgive me for my sins every day. I didn't do that.
When someone sins, it does not mean they automatically lose their salvation. But when you sin, it becomes a barrier between you and God in your relationship with God. If it is not forgiven, it will never go away. Every day when you sin more, those sins will pile up and build a wall between you and God. That is what happened to me.
I stopped reading the Bible. I still went to church and I prayed but I wasn't feeling Gods presence anymore. I fell into sin and the more I sinned, the more I became a slave to sin. I fell into all kinds of sins I wont even talk about anymore I am so ashamed of it all. I started hating myself and I grew angry with God. I destroyed some great friendships and finally I left it all behind me.
I know I was saved, but I allowed myself to be dragged into the world of sin and it pulled me down and buried me in it. I have zero doubt that if I would have died during those years, I would have never made it to heaven. Today I know that there is more to being saved than just getting there. One needs to be diligent in their walk with God and stay there as well.
But How Do You Stay Right With God Then?
Rule #1 - Pray a lot! Pray when you wake up. Pray when you go to bed. Pray when you eat meals and pray every time you have a down moment. This will sound silly but if you are sitting on the toilet? Pray!
Your relationship with God is like any other relationship in the world. It is a living thing that you need to constantly tend to, and one of the most important tools to any good relationship is communication! When you pray, don't only ask for things, but thank God for what He has done for you. Thank Him for drawing you to Him. Tell God about your problems and worries and thank Him for being their for you through those things. If you are not praying at least three times a day, every day, you aren't praying enough! And the more you pray the better.
Rule #2 - Forgiveness! Forgiveness is like love. It is a two way street. You need to forgive others for things they do against you and you need to ask God to forgive you for your sins.
Sin is not just disobeying the ten commandments. It is not breaking one of Gods many commandments. The word Sin means to "Miss the Mark" when you translated it from the Greek word. Any time you miss the mark on what God would want you to do, you are sinning. Every one of us miss that mark multiple times every day. Every one of those misses will pile up on that wall that will divide you from God if you don't ask God to forgive you for them. So don't only ask Him to forgive you for sins you realize you did, but always ask God to forgive you for any sins you may not realize you committed as well. As long as you keep yourself forgiven of all sins, there is nothing but your own decisions to get in the way of you being right with God.
Rule #3 - Read His Word! Someone once told me that when you read the Word, you are feeding the Holy Spirit. I don't know if that is honestly backed up in the Bible, but it actually makes a lot of sense. I think of it this way. The old cliche' "You are what you eat!" The more we feed God into our minds and hearts, the less room there is for the desire to sin.
As ashamed as I am of this, I had become addicted to porn. It had a real hold of me and no matter how hard I tried to stop looking at it, I always ended up doing it. The more I did it the more I hated myself for it too. It wasn't until I truly gave myself over to God and started reading the Bible every day and praying multiple times a day and always asking for his Forgiveness that I stopped. The more I filled myself with God, the less I desired that sin. I don't even think about doing it anymore.
Don't only read the Bible, but study it as well. Find subjects that you are curious about and dig into them. Look them up online. Read articles by others on them and don't be afraid to read article for both sides of a discussion. Look for the truth and let the Holy Spirit guide you on which one is right. And for God's sake, use logic too! I would ask you to include my articles in your studies and if you ever find that you believe I am wrong about anything, email me and let me know. If I am wrong I want to know. If I find you are missing something I will let you know. Its not a battle of who is right, it is about learning the truth. In the end however, the more you are focusing on God and Jesus, the better your relationship with God will be.
I would suggest anyone to go to Church and often. It is the presence of the Lord and the support of other Christians and the leadership of a good Pastor you will find in churches. These are wonderful things. They are not absolutely necessary to be right with God though. Those things will help you and make it easier to stay right with God. Church is a great tool that every Christian should use but Praying, Forgiveness for sins, and Reading Gods Word are the three most important ingredients that your relationship with God cannot live without.
If you ever have any questions about this article or any other, feel free to ask.
Other articles in Getting Saved series....
Part-1 "Why Should I get Saved?"
Part-2 "How Do I get Saved?"
Return to One God Logic Articles