Correspondence

I received a note from my friend after sending him one of the lessons. It said, “Yes received and I can understand it well. Besides, I can read and learn from all these lessons you taught and I am trying to do some / practice praying as you teach, I have been deeply thinking of what I have learned from you these days. I have learned a lot about the religion, belief, the God, the relationship between us, those terms and definitions etc. I have calmed down a lot and feeling quiet so much as before, but I am still not sure if I am some kind of religious belief or a religious person now, as I still don't have time or chance to go to church every week or so as a real Christian, due to my current life DNS work. Do I need to go to church weekly or so? Do need to go through some process such as baptizing or other formal oath etc.?

I responded back to him.

[Name], as I read the note you sent to me I was encouraged but at the same time I am concerned. I am encouraged by your growing spiritual awareness and a greater peace in your life, but I am concerned about your focus on rules or the things you think are important to do. You are becoming a religious person that is beginning to establish a list of things you think you need to do to be better and maybe more acceptable to God. There was a group of people in the Bible who came to Jesus and listed all the things they had done or were doing that they felt were good enough to allow them entrance into heaven. Let us read what they said to Jesus and how Jesus responded. Here is what was said in their conversation. ²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ ²³ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness’” (Matthew 7:21 – 23 ESV). Jesus refers to them as workers and not part of his family that he knows.

[Name], it is not about what we do that is most important, but about a relationship we have with him. True Christianity is about a relationship to God through the person of Jesus Christ and about what he does for us. When we come to the point of believing who Jesus really is and what his death on the cross and his resurrection accomplished for us and trust our life to him then he will establish a living relationship with us through the process of being born again. Being born again is the process of God the Father creating in our body of flesh a new spiritual body that will continue to live forever after we die physically. With that spiritual life comes our family relationship with God and all the benefits we receive by being a child of his. Think of the benefits your children have by you being their father; your love and care for them in spite of what they do. You spend time with them and direct their growth. Once we are a family member our heavenly Father trains us up as his children. It is a lifelong process, at times painful, but rewarding beyond understanding. When you practice praying, practice asking God to work within your heart to give you understanding in this. When you are at the point of being born spiritually you will know it as surely as your wife knew it was time to give birth to your son if she had a natural birth. You will know and that is what I am praying about for you and waiting to hear about from you. When you are ready and it happens your note to me will be like nothing you have ever written to me before. I pray for that day when you experience that and will with great excitement share with me your spiritual birth experience. When your son was born he didn’t do anything but allow the process to happen. You don’t control the birth experience either. You keep learning and praying and then one day God determines that it is time for birth. You will know that time and you will know how to respond in prayer to him. It is not about the work you do, but about the relationship that is being established with God through Jesus Christ through learning from the word and through prayer to God about his work in your heart. You are getting closer as you learn more about surrender to him and request for him to prepare your heart for that great spiritual event.