My pastor talks about parishoners who come to church & go through the motions. How do you stay fired up in your faith? How do you influence others to do the same? What suggestions would you make to others on how to keep their on fire?
2007-06-14 03:47:29 · 9 answers · asked by NICOLE 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
staying in the word and fellowshipping with those who are "fired up" are good. THough you have to be discerning and make sure the "fired up" that is going on is not just emotionalism and that the people you are fellowshipping are truly in love with the Lord. I have met some quiet, humble people who have such a deep love for the Lord and have been more effective in their quiet, one on one , behind the scenes ministries than some that have been wild on fire. It has to be about your relationship and not just your feelings for the day as our feelings are often unstable.
You also need to remember that you can not pour out if you are not filled up. Even Jesus needed to have time away from ministering and working- he took time to go off, away from the people and pray, fast, rest, and rejuvinate. Don't be afraid to take quiet time to yourself to get filled up with His Spirit and His word. Then make sure you are doing what God has called you to do.
2007-06-15 06:07:27 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sometimes the fire waxes and wanes. It's part of human nature. Protestantism seems to thrive on this kind of emotionalism that your pastor talks about - but - he forgets that sometimes being a Christian is hard work. Dirty work. Emotionally draining work.
The important thing is to keep working and moving forward. Working out your faith, with fear and trembling (yes, sometimes being a faithful follower of Christ is scary work!) - sometimes going through the motions is all we have left.
2007-06-14 03:52:41 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
If you have to keep yourself "fired up" there is probably something wrong. What your pastor calls people coming to church and going through the motions are people who have accepted Christianity as a part of their life, and are content and secure in their faith.I have accepted that God has sent his son Jesus to die for our sins, and I follow Jesus's teachings in my daily life. I do not need a daily pep rally to keep my faith up and I do not presume to think that I need to do this for anybody else. Rather I examine my personal actions and take a thoughtfully consider what Jesus said and how my actions would fit into his teachings. I tend to be skeptical of preachers who want their congregations to be fired up because it has always seemd to me that these preachers want their congregations to get fired up about what THEY think the bible means and don't want their congregations read the Bible through anybody's elses viewpoint.
2007-06-14 04:05:52 · answer #3 · answered by New Dog Owner 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The closer you get to God the closer He will get to you. Study, pray, fast, pray, study, pray, fast, pray, study. You get the idea.
People will tell you to walk the talk and talk the walk. That doesn't mean shoving the Bible down the throats of everyone you meet. It means to live your life in accordance with the Bible. The key is to take the knowledge we obtain from reading and hearing God's word and transplant it into our hearts. Once that happens, people will begin to see the love and zeal you have for God. Even those who don't like you will come up to you and ask you to pray for them. Then as you give the glory back to God and thank Him for the blessings yet to come, He will pour out from His spirit blessings you cannot contain.
You see, we are all heirs to the promise God made to Abraham, through Jesus Christ. Also, we are promised blessings beyond any human comprehension (eternal life with God in a beautiful city for example).
Just believe in your heart the things of God and watch how the fire that may seem like an ember will rise up and turn into an inferno. It happened for me and my wife and can and will happen for you.
2007-06-14 04:05:08 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
through studying the bible more and more and trying to walk as close to God as possible... Get out there and do what God wants us to do (spread the gospel) and do it in a loving way and you will see the rewards. We start to lose our fire when we get caught up in worldly things =)
2007-06-14 03:51:51 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
hang around christians who r fired up and ask them to help u stayed fired up. then when ur good and fired up u can help someone else.
2007-06-14 03:51:32 · answer #6 · answered by claire b 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
read bible daily
find a bible believing church or bible study
find some strong christians to do things with.
pray
2007-06-14 17:50:09 · answer #7 · answered by robert p 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I always say that if Christians are lukewarm you should have poured more gasoline on them.
2007-06-14 03:49:41 · answer #8 · answered by EZSum 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Participate in this forum!
2007-06-14 03:51:25 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋