Don't you want a spiritual revival in your life?

I want to share with you my spiritual journey and how God has revolutionized my life over this last year.

 I grew up going to church and being involved in church activities (RAs and youth group). These were the building blocks of my faith and my relationship with Christ. Unfortunately, during high school and college, I strayed away from Christ, and my life no longer represented anything the Bible stood for. I was living for myself. I knew Christ but I wasn't willing to sacrifice my worldly habits. So, I just continued to play the part.

 College life rolled right into my career life and nothing changed. Thankfully, my parents continued to encourage me through their faith and by supporting me to find a church. In August of  2011, during a revival at a local Baptist church, God called me to repent and change my life - to fully dedicate it to Him and His ministry (though, honestly, I didn't really know what Jesus' ministry was).  Within a few months, God plugged me into a great church that helped me grow spiritually.

 Even so, there still wasn't a consistent desire to read and study the Word. I attended services every Sunday morning and Sunday evening and even went to Wednesday night services. I went through phases of really pursuing God and soaking up everything and then sometimes - nothing. At times I even wondered why I was doing all this, to begin with. Bible studies are great but there was no real-life application. This continued up until the last few months.

I know we all struggle through these times in our walk with Christ - that we stray and don't really seek after Him as much. Don't you want a revival in your life? Don't you want a desire to read the scripture every day and not have to motivate yourself to do it?  These are all things I pray for help with, work on and fail constantly. Feeling guilty that I am not passionate about my Savior who died on the Cross for me.

 The solution I found was simple. And it happens to be a constant theme throughout the Bible. And one Jesus commands us to do:  Evangelize.

 Let me put it this way, the entire New Testament is a recording of Jesus and His disciples evangelizing and why we should be evangelizing. It is plain and simple: they told people about Christ every day. Upon Jesus' triumph over death, He appeared to the disciples to share with them important instructions on what to do next. I never realized this was the first thing Jesus told the disciples to do.

This change in me started through a couple in our church inviting me to go downtown with them and hand out Gospel tracts. I eventually went and saw that they would talk with anyone who was willing to listen about the saving grace of Jesus Christ. After standing on the corner for only a few minutes I was changed forever.

 My soul cried out as I saw, first hand, hundreds of people physically reject Christ and choose hell. Then, my soul rejoiced more than I have ever experienced when I was able to watch someone begin to believe in Jesus. Right there in the street. They may not have accepted Christ right then, but the seed was planted deep and God will do the growing.

This created an unquenchable desire to read God's word. I now want a deeper knowledge of the Bible so I can use it in the battle against Satan - rebuking the lies he has people chained to.

 Here's the bottom line...I couldn’t relate or even come close to understanding anything in the Bible if I were not on a mission for Christ, which means sharing the Gospel with unbelievers. Why else does a Christian need to read the Bible if they are staying in their home and living their own life (not on mission)? What purpose does it serve?

 God’s Word is powerful and we can only realize that when we are sharing the Gospel and seeing it change people's lives. I used to share the Gospel only when it was convenient for me and the person asked me about God. Now, I make a point of going out of my way to share the Gospel with unbelievers.

 The reason for my writing this is that I want you all to have the fire and passion for Christ that the disciples had in the Bible. I want us all to reach the point that reading the Bible and sharing the Gospel become part of our second nature.

 Jesus loves us more than we comprehend. I pray that you take this as a challenge and go somewhere on purpose to share the Gospel. Or find a group that goes out evangelizing. Your walk with God will never be the same.

 Your loving brother in Christ,