How to Grow Closer to Jesus as a New Christian
When you decide to give your life to Jesus and receive Him as your Lord and Saviour, your life changes in an instant. Suddenly the empty space you felt on the inside, all your life, is completely filled. You realise it was a God-shaped hole, that only He would ever be able to fill. You feel complete and whole. Safe and secure in the arms of your Creator. You don’t have to carry the weight and burdens of life on your own anymore, because Jesus is your Helper, your Guide and your Comforter.
This is a beautiful time of renewal and celebration, but it does come with a lot of questions, and as a baby Christian, it can feel intimidating knowing where to start and what to do next. I’ve seen so many new believers ask about where to start in the Bible, how to get closer with God, how to handle the dynamics with family and friends as a Christian and what steps to take next. The Lord put it on my heart to use my own experiences of walking with Him over the past nine years, to answer some of these questions and help guide you in the beginning stages of your beautiful journey with God.
Start with Reading The Gospels
So many new Christians wonder where they should start with reading The Bible. It is after all, a huge book with so many different stories. Some books in The Bible can be very confusing, and can cause fear in new Christians if they haven’t gotten to know the true character of God yet, and others can feel very long-winded and boring.
The Word of God is alive and beautiful. God uses His Word to speak to us and guide us, that’s why it’s so important for us to have a deep love for the scriptures and books found in The Bible. The order that you read the Bible in does matter, but it isn’t meant to be read the way a traditional book is read from start to end.
The Bible is made up of many different books written by many people over hundreds of years. It tells of the journeys many heroes of faith walked with God and gives us a chance to get to know God and His never-ending love for His people through the experiences they have.
To get to know Jesus Christ and learn about the amazing miracles He performed during His time on Earth, I would recommend that new Christians start by reading the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in The Bible. These books tell the story of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Our Saviour, through the perspectives of four of His disciples, Matthew, Mark, John and Luke.
By starting your Bible reading in The Gospels, you will be able to get to know Jesus and understand how much He really loved us. It will give you a deeper revelation of the sacrifice He made to save us from our sins and it will show you that He understands what it’s like to be human. He was hurt, judged and tempted just like we experience as His children. Jesus is love and He came to rescue and save us.
The first time I tried to read The Bible, I started at the beginning and tried to read the way I would read a normal book. I felt like this was more of a chore than anything, so my efforts got less and less, until I eventually just stopped. I tried a Bible study plan that started with reading The Gospels and then Psalms and Proverbs. This was so much better for me and made me fall in love with my Bible time!
When you read the gospels first and understand more about who Jesus is, you’ll have a deeper knowing of the love of God and will be able to understand the other books in The Bible a little more than if you just start with Genesis and end with Revelation.
The more time you spend reading the Word of God, the more you will learn that He communicates with you through what you read. Some days He will show you wisdom, others He will remind you that He will calm the storms around you and other times He will guide you on the path He wants you to follow. There are times when nothing jumps out at you, but that’s okay, because it’s just beautiful to spend time in His presence. There is no right or wrong way to read The Bible, but when you know deep down how much you are loved by God, it makes spending time in His word so much more rewarding.
Listen to Worship Music
Listening to worship music makes me feel so connected to God and His goodness. It reminds me that I am His child, that death no longer has a hold on me, that God will provide and how much He loves me. Good worship music is always based on scripture, so when you listen to the words in worship songs, you are listening to the Words of our Heavenly Father.
Worship music is so good for the soul and it’s good to surround yourself with songs of praise through all the stages of your walk with God. It helps you find connection with God on a deep, intimate level as you praise Him for all He has done for you.
As a new Christian, it can seem strange changing from your typical music taste to all of a sudden listening to songs about God, but the more you let it, worship music gets down deep into your soul and connects with you more than any other music ever will – even those hard-rock Emo songs from back in the day don’t get you like worship music does (speaking from experience!) Give it a chance and, I promise, you’ll be surprised when you jam along harder to God I’m So Grateful, than you ever did with your favourite non-Christian song!
Pray and Listen for God’s Guidance
The most important thing we need to do as Christians, is pray to God and listen for His voice. We were created us to have a close, intimate relationship with our Saviour, Jesus Christ. He is our safe place, our strength in the struggle, our joy in the good times and our source of everything.
As humans, especially if we’ve experienced pain or trauma in the past, we learn to navigate life on our own. We’re independent and learn to do everything by ourselves, without anyone’s help. We make plans and write out our goals and work hard in our own strength to prove we’re capable on our own.
Along your journey with the Lord, you will have to unlearn the habit of self-reliance. He will use certain situations and trials to show you that you need Him. We can do nothing without God, and whatever it is we can do in our own strength will never come close to what we can do with His help. We need God, because life is just so incredibly difficult to get through without Him.
Take time out of the busyness of life to spend in the presence of God. It might seem silly at first, if you’re new to prayer, but a relationship with God grows over time, just like any other relationship we have. Speak to God like He is your Father, your Friend, your Comforter. There is no need to change the way you speak or to pray with big, fancy words. God knows your heart and He loves you just the way you are. There’s no need to pretend when you speak to Him. You can speak from your heart and He will always respond in love.
Another thing to consider is to make sure you aren’t just praying, but allow the time to be still for a couple of moments after prayer to hear what God wants to say to you. Is there anything He is asking you to do or stop doing? Anyone He’s asking you to encourage or serve in His name? AS you spend more time talking to God and following the promptings He places on your heart, you will start to experience how beautiful it is to be in an intimate, loving relationship with Him. It will heal you, bless you, help you and change you in ways you would never expect.
Find A Church Where You Feel at Home
If you’ve been to a few churches but still can’t find the one that feels right to you, please don’t get discouraged, because we’ve all felt like that at some point or another. Keep trying until you find the church that makes you feel welcome, encouraged in the Lord and where your soul feels filled by the Holy Spirit.
I’d also like to speak about church hurt, which does unfortunately cause trauma for so many Christians. If you’ve ever experienced church hurt, abuse, rejection or judgement by members of a church before, I’m so sorry that happened. It is absolutely horrific that people abuse their positions of power and influence to hurt others. Unfortunately, churches are operated by humans, and humans are sinners. I pray that God will heal your hurt and use it to help others that need it. Please don’t let the sins of the people that hurt you cause you to grow distant from God. He is close to the broken-hearted. His love is too great to leave you.
It is so important to be part of a church family as a Christian, no matter how long you’ve been walking with the Lord. Church allows you to grow spiritually and keeps you rooted in the Word of God. It’s also a great place to meet other Christians who will encourage you and support you as their brother or sister in Christ. I love meeting with other Christians in church, especially during praise and worship, because I can really feel the Holy Spirit filling me and everyone else in the room.
Living a Godly Life
When you give your life to Jesus and receive Him as your Lord and Saviour, His Holy Spirit comes and lives on the inside of you. You become new, holy and pure. This means things you may have enjoyed before you were born again, don’t give you the same level of enjoyment anymore. Movies, series and content that isn’t Godly or wise starts to make you feel uneasy. People that you used to hang out with before that party, cause trouble and make bad decisions start making you feel unsettled whenever you’re around them.
This is the effect of the Holy Spirit working through you, aligning you with the will of God. Don’t be surprised if God speaks to you about sorting out some bad habits you’ve had in the past either. The Lord moulds us and works in us to become more and more like Jeus the more we spend time with Him. The promptings of the Holy Spirit calling you higher are such a gift of God’s love for us. How amazing is it that He meets us in our mess, but He loves us too much to leave us in the mess. He has more for you, a life filled with His love, blessings and healing. You just need to follow His guidance through the Holy Spirit and He will show you the way.
Find a Christian Community
A lot of the time, when you grow closer to God, it can make people uncomfortable. Friends and family start distancing themselves from you and say you’ve changed. It can feel like a very lonely and isolating journey, as you lose people that you thought would never leave. It’s important to know the enemy causes this to happen because he will try anything to get you away from God.
I can even feel it when Christian friends or family members think I’m a “Jesus freak” and that I’m taking it too far. It’s hard not to celebrate and give God all the glory when you really get just how good He’s been to you! Many people let their flesh take over though. They sit in self-pity, unforgiveness and negativity. They can’t see the blessings that are right in front of them.
These are the luke-warm Christians. The ones that are saved by the blood of Jesus, but they aren’t on fire for the Lord. They aren’t talking about His goodness and love through their days, so when they see other Christians being “too Christian”, they get uncomfortable.
Don’t let the judgement and opinions of others stop you though, your enthusiasm and love for God makes Him rejoice! He delights in you, so delight in Him, too, even if it makes people uncomfortable!
This is why finding a community of like-minded Christians that are on fire for the Lord is so important. It will help you stay connected to God and will encourage you when things get difficult. There are loads of Facebook groups and Instagram pages dedicated to following Jesus, and many Godly YouTube channels with strong online support too. This makes connecting with an online Christian community really easy and accessible.
Some Awesome Christian YouTube Channels I Enjoy Are:
Church small groups and Bible Studies are a great way to meet Christian friends in person, too. Whether online or in person, having a community of believers behind you can really help encourage you when other people in your life don’t understand the journey you’re on as a born-again Christian.
As a new believer in Christ, you’ve been filled with His love and grace, but navigating life as a baby Christian can be quite intimidating. I hope you’ve found some help and encouragement by reading my guide on how to grow closer to God as a born-again Christian.
I pray that God will bless you and keep you. That His face will shine upon you and give you peace. You are welcome here, brother or sister in Christ. You can leave a comment below if you need any prayer or encouragement, or if you have any questions about walking out this life with the Lord, I will always try my best to help you where I can.
