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I know this could be a little last minute, but I figured I would try the church thing to start with - here, we all can share our thoughts and ideas that our on our minds and hearts about God! Feel free to talk with others who post here as well - the purpose here is that we all grow in Christ! We want to keep growing and growing biggrin

I figured I'd post a thought on my mind and feel free to comment or post your own thought on a matter. My thoughts of the end of this week are:

Don't Be a S.M.O. - Sunday Morning Only

Clearly, if you are here posting, giving input, chatting with others, etc. on this forum that you are most likely not a S.M.O. However, there are many Christians out there who act the way they like during the week and when Sunday morning, afternoon, or evening rolls around - they put on their best Sunday appearance and go to church. This is a highly dangerous habit, and it can have the tendency to make us "lukewarm".

In fact, I remember my mother would let us listen to music in the car when we would go out to eat, go shopping, or drive around town any other day of the week. One Sunday morning on the way to church, we wanted to listen to our music - like we did any other day of the week. When we wanted to turn on our music, my mother angrily turned it off and said, "No music on Sunday mornings!" and she'd do the same thing with other things. It got me confused because I didn't understand why you'd do something every other day of the week and not do it on Sunday.

Quite a few of us may have known people such as that in our lives that worshiped God on Sunday and the rest of the week - they ignored God.

We are called to involve God in everything we do, which includes every day of the week at all times:

1 Corinthians 10:31 NIV:

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

There are a few churches in The Holy Bible that are good examples of this type of topic such as The Lukewarm Church at Laodicea (Revelation 3:14 - 22) and The Worldly Church at Thyatira (Revelation 2:18 - 29). These churches put God on hold for other things in their life and as Christians - we shouldn't put God on hold and as some put it - use God as a genie in a bottle because it's not right to ask for God's help and give thanks only when we think we should instead of every day.

Being a "Sunday Morning Only" type person, can cause other people to fall. As an example, let's say there is a guy...we'll call him Caleb...he worships God on Sunday's and makes that a day surrounding God, but when Monday - Saturday roll around he decides that it'd be great to get drunk with friends and when he's sober - he bullies others to get his way. Now, what would his friends truly think of him and know him as? They may know him as "the guy who loves to party/get drunk/push others around." As a Christian - is that the type of person we want to be known as? Do we want to be known as someone lost in the darkness throughout the week and only involve God on Sunday's? It can cause others to fall, which we shouldn't do:

1 Corinthians 10:32 - 33 NIV:

Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God— even as I try to please everyone in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.

As a true Christian we need to be the salt and light of the earth!

Matthew 5:13 - 16 NIV:

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Think about it, are you a "Sunday Morning Only"? If you are, change your routine to glorify God and praise Him and give thanks to him daily as well as ask for forgiveness for your actions and try to change in order to be a good example of a Christian to the rest of the world. 3nodding

If you would like to go back and know there is an awesome church waiting for you then put yourself a little out of your comfort zone to go. smile Sometimes, to serve God - we need to step out of our comfort zone. If you don't know why you're nervous, it's a bit harder to control it, but perhaps read some calming scriptures before attending the church and be yourself smile perhaps take the opportunity to fellowship with others and grow ^_^

Some good calming scriptures I will post below:

Isaiah 41:10 NIV:

So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Philippians 4:6 - 7 NIV:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

1 Peter 5:6 - 7 NIV:

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Hebrews 13:6 NIV:

So we say with confidence,

“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?”

There are many others, but those are a few awesome ones ^_^

I haven't been to a church in real life for about a year or so myself sweatdrop every church I have gone to around here has twisted doctrine and I'm still looking. >_< I just keep praying about it - prayer is good 3nodding

Beyond just going to church itself, once you get a little comfortable, perhaps consider joining a ministry or small group in a church as well. You not only get to work inside the kingdom of God, but you may meet like minded people. Getting active in a church helps take some of the jitters away, and keeps your mind off of what others may think of you. I've been doing Youth Church for 4 years and it's wonderful to be involved in the shaping of children's lives for Christ biggrin (plus, 5 year olds are cooler than most people my age anyway razz )

A lot of us have been down the path of only serving God on Sundays and not other days of the week. We are human and can forget as well as get wrapped up in busy routines and other activities. To keep God on my mind, I sometimes write a verse and put it somewhere where I will see it so I can be reminded - or keep my Bible in a place that I know that I will always look and set it nearby so that I can pick it up with ease and read a few verses. I try to make a habit of praying for every meal - for some reason, I almost always forget to do this >_< because at home, we only prayed for like thanksgiving dinner or a meal we had with other church folk and at home it was kinda, "Grab your food and do whatever." without praying for it so I still need to work on that. Although, I have a hard time falling asleep if I don't pray first - that's something that sticks with me. I love praying and talking to God about things because he's an excellent listener ^_^

Sometimes these things take effort and practice. It doesn't mean we're stupid, sinful, or worthless - it just means we're human and need to work on our worldly habits to replace them with better ones that would be pleasing to God smile

I understand having a hard time to get up in the mornings. I mean, even when I was forced to go to my parents church - I would stay up so late and then be so tired during church and it'd be miserable. Now that I am on my own and haven't been able to find a good church - it does feel sometimes like devotionals help, but aren't as much as they could be with in real life fellowship and growth with others. I feel this burning desire to talk about God to others and fight myself on how to go about it because I'm so timid.

The best thing is that we can talk to God about anything. He see's our every action and hears our every word - He knows. We could be sitting at home alone and start talking things out with God - He listens to our conversations with Him. We can also pray to him about anything. It doesn't matter how you word that you want Him more involved in your every day work schedule - just tell Him smile . It could be something as simple as, "God, I want you back in my life fully," and also in order to make that work - we need to take action as well such as continuing reading His word, do what He tells us to do, etc.

College can be a challenging point in life - especially since we don't want to fail because we need to pass classes to get further in our education and they can be so costly. Also, depending on what classes and everything one is taking - sleep often seems forever away.

If you are able, form a Bible study with other believers that you know if you are able and study together and talk about God's word for a good hour - it doesn't have to be a long time or a whole evening event. It's important to find time for God even in busy schedules. I remember taking college classes full time and it seemed impossible to keep up with Bible studies because I had a commute home, was out almost all day long, was too tired by the time I got home, and my weekends were filled with homework. I usually tried to get assignments done early so that I would have more time, but I'd catch myself playing a game because I hadn't had leisure time in quite a while. So, I would take my Bible to school with me. I would sit somewhere and start reading. I would sit in the cafeteria at times while I was eating lunch or sipping on coffee and reading. Sometimes I would read it in the library or go to the school computer lab and pull up Bible verses on a certain topic. If you do bring a Bible with you to school - do expect that people will say something and they will most definitely stare. I got stares left and right, but pretended that I didn't see them and kept reading. Not everyone will agree, but reading the Bible isn't wrong.

I read a great post one day that said The Holy Bible should be like our cell phones and I couldn't agree more! :

I wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phones?

What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?

What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?

What if we flipped through it several times a day?

What if we used it to receive messages from the text?

What if we treated it like we couldn't live without it?

What if we gave it to kids as gifts?

What if we used it as we traveled?

What if we used it in case of an emergency?

What if we upgraded it to get the latest version?

This is something to make you go...hmmm...where is my Bible?


Oh, and one more thing. Unlike our cell phone, we don’t ever have to worry about our bible being disconnected because Jesus already paid the bill!

That makes sense smile and prayer is good. I do pray that you find a church that is right for you and that you'll be able to make good Christian friends. Prayer is part of choosing a church, also if they have a website - you can see what they believe if you aren't familiar with the church you are about to attend. I find it useful that a lot of church websites have a "contact us" button and have a form you can fill out. I tend to ask if they believe in certain things that aren't described exactly in their beliefs page, or that are mentioned what they believe, but not exactly in depth. Then I can get an answer back usually and be like, "I'll try this church," or, "No, I won't go to that church."

I almost know what it's like to not have any Christian friends. I have one true Christian friend in real life. There is another friend of mine that says that they are Christian, but when I have tried to talk about God - she just says, "That's good." and one day I was talking about controversial issues in the church and what would be considered right or wrong to God in that circumstance and she said, "I don't really like getting into why things are right or wrong." I was a bit shocked at that because as believers we need to realize what is right with God and what isn't sweatdrop I do hope to meet more true Christian friends one day. Even the friends I have that aren't Christian - it's great to be a good example to them.

Well, keep praying that God will lead you towards that direction and that you'd actually follow through and go where he leads you. Proverbs says that to have friends you must show yourself to be friendly. I struggle a lot too trying to gain Christian friends. But they're everywhere! Even just finding a believer by chance at a coffee shop and talking with them at length can give you such encouragement. And never forget that your biggest cheerleader is God. He's so glad that you've been trying to find ways to get closer to Him biggrin