the hour I first believed

Every Christian goes through peaks and valley's when it comes to their faith. Sometimes your zeal, passion, and even relationship with God can feel stronger at some times than others. . While I think that is normal, we must guard against the trap of "coasting" thru seasons of your christian life, and subconsciously drifting away from what God has saved you from, or where He is calling you to.

Yesterday i had the humbling honor to have coffee with a young man who gave his life to the Lord for the first time at our church on sunday. He emailed me and asked me if I would meet with him and point him to what he should do now. After the brief life history and introduction, (I'd never met him before) I just sat there and listened to him talk about how excited he was to now serve God and how for the first time he truly believed that God loved him and had a plan for his life.

I talked to him about staying in the word and the importance of the church body, then prayed with him before we left. I came to the coffee shop to help him, but I can't express how much our meeting helped me. To be around a new christians who had such a fresh appreciation and love for the grace and presence of God brought me back to the cross, and my own experience.

"How precious did, that grace appear, the hour I first believed" Never allow the grace and presence of God to be anything but amazing. Remember the God of the universe has humbled himself to know and rescue you. Don't let sin, apathy, pride, or the mundaneness of life rob you of the Amazingness of our God.

David in the midst of his terrible sin prayed in psalm 51, "restore to me the joy of my salvation" Basically he was asking to be taken back to how it felt to first experience the goodness of God. If grace has become less than amazing in your life, take a moment to reflect on what Jesus Christ has done for you.