Deciding to follow Christ came naturally to me. I knew I wanted to change my life, and changes happened quickly. My enthusiasm grew, and I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit working inside of me.
As I continue to grow, the decision to follow Christ is becoming more difficult as I am unlocking past hurts, hang-ups, and habits. I realize false beliefs about myself that I would rather not deal with, and they are causing difficulties in my life.
Good News To Follow Christ
The good news is that I am dealing with those feelings and thoughts. I am working through them and overcoming them. I am establishing new boundaries that should have been in place long ago.
The “boundaries” are for self and others. It is impacting relationships, and it hurts, but I am doing what is necessary to live a better life.
My enthusiasm for progress is cautiously optimistic at this point. It would be fantastic to tell you how excited I am for what is coming, but I cannot do that right now. There is far too much work to be done so that the enthusiasm will return, let's say I am confident I will gain energy as progress happens.
What's to gain enthusiasm and to grow as I follow Christ? One thing is intense prayer. My prayer sessions are still many, but the length of them is suffering and is quite possibly a significant reason for the slump.
As I think of it, I realize that during the intense prayer sessions, I often start not feeling as though I am praying well. I don't quit in the extended sessions, keep praying until the intensity, and the feeling of the Holy Spirit is present.
That's right; I know the Holy Spirit is there, sometimes going well over four hours in a single prayer session to get to that point.
It's time for more growth in my journey to follow Christ. It is time for some intense prayer sessions. I hope you will join me in prayer.