fbpx

Practicing our faith: Tools to mature your relationship with God

 

 

We discussed in the prior chapters the first step to entering the gateway to biblically based good wellbeing: acceptance of Christ’s forgiveness for our misdeeds by faith in His death on the cross and resurrection from the dead (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 3:23-26). Then we evaluated the importance of understanding that our salvation is permanent, no matter what, and that we should not feel guilty in daily life (1 Peter 1:4-5; John 10:27-31)!

This is a great start but is there more? Can we further improve our lives with the benefits of Christianity and the Bible?

The answer comes from the Bible’s 5-step approach to maturing our relationship with God which helps us access additional benefits to our wellbeing. I call this method the ‘5 tools to maturity’ and they are taken from the activities of the first church in Jerusalem (Acts 2:42 and 47) and are all highlighted later in the epistles. They are as follows:

  • Prayer
  • Praise
  • Fellowship
  • Receiving Biblical teaching
  • Reach others with Biblical truth

These five tools provide a useful model to us today for what actions individuals and the church should perform routinely.

Why are these 5 tools important? When implemented consistently, and in balance with each other, these activities appropriate God’s Word into our daily lives.

 

Practicing the faith improves wellbeing

Amazingly, Teleios and others have shown that practicing our faith may enhance personal wellbeing. A number of scientific studies have shown that church attendance, specifically, which allows for these five tools to be expressed in a community setting, may enhance personal wellbeing (1-4).

Further, several studies sponsored by Teleios have noted that individuals who perform these activities have enhanced wellbeing and especially when performed in aggregate (5-6).

This is exciting news! Consequently, scripture tells us that we can have a sure and certain relationship with God, guilt free, and He provides us measures to propel our spiritual growth leading to better personal wellbeing. What a great God!

Let us examine the 5 tools individually and see what they can do for you!

‘Sweet hour of prayer’

Prayer is one of the cornerstones of the Christian life. Scripture tells us that we should pray frequently and persistently. As Christians we can come boldly before God in prayer, uninhibited and unafraid, to receive mercy in our every time of need (Hebrews 10:19-22).

  • The content of our prayers – This should be consistent with what glorifies Jesus Christ (John 14:13,14,15:7). The content of our prayer generally should be:
  • Scriptural prayer guide – The apostle Paul offers 3 model prayers in which he emphasizes what God wishes us and others to attain by our prayers, no matter the situation (Ephesians 1:15ff, 3:14ff; Colossians 1:9-15) including: knowledge of our salvation and the Bible, wisdom, understanding, hope, power, knowing God’s love, service to God, patience, joy and persistence in our Christian walk. These wonderful prayers can be used as a model for what God wishes us to attain in addition to the any specific request, we might pray for ourselves or others.
  • God answers prayer – Wow, what a great promise! God says He will answer our prayers if we ask according to His will (i.e., scripture). Therefore, a key to an effective prayer life is knowing the epistles.
  • Prayer and wellbeing – Medical research indicates that active prayer increases wellbeing and the more frequent the prayer the better for wellbeing (5-9). Why would this be? Well, this has been studied little to my knowledge, but several potential benefits might be:
    • Prayer provides a release for our emotions to God, perhaps relieving tension and frustration.
    • It engenders a sense that somebody cares and is listening. We also know that the Holy Spirit and Christ Himself pray on our behalf (Hebrews 7:25; Romans 8:26,34)
    • It causes us to pay attention to scripture hopefully, as we pray and so offers us help to consider, and form an answer to, our problems as we deliberate mentally our requests to God.
    • It reminds us to be thankful for others and for His blessings to us. It is hard to be angry with someone while you pray for them, which might reduce tensions and help relationships.
    • It helps us to praise and remember that we have a great God whose purposes are greater than ours. Thus, it helps keep our own problems in perspective.
    • In addition, as Christians we have the benefit of God’s promise to answer prayer, so there may be a benefit through His gracious provisions (John 14:13-14; 1 John 5:14-15).

Therefore, prayer is a key tool to maturity as a Christian, invoking God’s help yet reminding us of scripture, praise and to be thankful, all which may our assist our wellbeing. Prayer is one of the great benefits of our Christian life.

‘Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow’

Praise is paramount in our Christian life. The epistles frequently attribute praise, honor and glory to God which He deserves because of His perfect character and magnificent actions.

As mentioned above, praise was an ongoing occurrence among these first believers (Acts 2:47). Our lives also are to be a praise and honor to God (Philippians 1:11). In addition, we make a sacrifice of praise to God as a part of our daily lives (Hebrews 13:15).

Why is praise so important for a Christian? Prior Teleios sponsored research showed in a Bible believing church that praise was associated with greater wellbeing, especially with greater frequency (6).

We do not know the exact reason praise helps personal wellbeing. However, we might suspect the following:

  • Praise commends our great God for who He is and what He has done. Not only does He deserve this praise, but it helps us think of ourselves as well as our personal issues and problems in proper perspective compared to God and His higher goals. This helps us maintain a humble attitude in life and promote service to God and others (Romans 12:1). Such an attitude allows the Holy Spirit to better work in our lives and allows us to know God better (Colossians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:19).
  • Recognizing through praise that we have a great and powerful God, who also answers prayer, helps us to know more fully that we can trust our issues and problems to Him (John 14:13; Philippians 4:6).

Praise God frequently. He deserves it and you will be better for it!

Fellowship – ‘Bless be the tie that binds’

 

Fellowship is vital to our Christian walk. It may be best described by the Greek word ‘koinonia’ (the New Testament was originally written in Greek) which speaks of our partnership with fellow Christians in the brotherhood in Christ. The basis of our fellowship is our mutual forgiveness in Christ by grace (1 John 1:6-10) and that each of us are placed into the church universal by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:13).

Practically speaking, those of us in the church universal often express our fellowship with those in the local church, associated small groups and close Christian friends.

How then do we fellowship? Although social fellowship with another believer can be fun and relaxing such as chatting about football or food, effectual fellowship depends on several biblical standards based on how we think and speak.

  • Thoughtful fellowship – Even before we interact with another Christian we should consider how we can meet their needs; do they need to be encouraged, taught, reminded of Scripture, or just to have a quiet and listening friend? This may take a bit of time and prayerful reflection to know how to best help other people and bear their burdens (Ephesians 4:29; Galatians 6:2; 1 Timothy 4:16; Hebrews 10:24).
  • Effective fellowship – After reflecting, we need verbally to convey our thinking to our friend or colleague based on their needs and not to satisfy our own emotions. Importantly, our speech should be used as a tool for the good of other people to express: gratitude, commendation, encouragement, admonishment and teaching unless we ourselves are in a mental or physical condition that requires assistance (Ephesians 4:29; 2 Timothy 2:23-24; 1 Peter 3:10; 4:11).
  • Accurate fellowship – Importantly, how we speak to each other should also reflect what scripture tells us. Otherwise, as we speak of spiritual matters we should emulate accurately what scripture says. How we speak to other Christians teaches them so we need to make sure that it is correct.

It is not enough to live by the jargon within church society which may actually not represent God at all, for example ‘I will do this when I have peace from God’; or ‘God will open the door’. We are to act obediently whether or not we have peace or not. In contrast, peace comes from the Spirit as a fruit (Galatians 5:22-23). Further, we make decisions based on His Word and prayer and then act in faith. Please see chapter on God’s leading (1 Timothy 4:4-5; Romans 14:23).

To live Biblical lives, we have His Word, prayer and we step out in faith by the power of the Spirit.

These three steps will help assure effectual fellowship with other believers, so we can help fortify each other in our faith, push each other on to greater acts of service, and live a holy lifestyle before our precious Father (Colossians 1:9-10; Hebrews 10:25).

Know your Scripture! – ‘Standing on the promises of God’

We know from the medical literature that identifying as a Christian, church attendance and prayer can enhance wellbeing as well as various measures associated with wellbeing (5-7).

Several medical studies indicate that studying scripture may enhance wellbeing (10-11). In addition, Teleios has analyzed several effects of both weekly Bibles study using a verse by verse examination of the text and the wisdom of scripture itself in several studies.

  • Teleios Research – The Bible Study Trial – We evaluated the effect of a Bible study on the wellbeing of 46 healthy young Christian adults (12). This was a “proof of concept” study since we don’t know of any prior research about this topic. The design was a prospective, randomized, active-controlled, single-blind intervention trial.
    • Subjects were randomized to either an active (detailed bible study program) or a control (minimally detailed bible study program) group in a 3:1 ratio. Ephesians Chapter 1 was chosen as the study text since it details many wonderful characteristics of our great salvation.
    • Both treatment groups showed a trend of increased knowledge and well-being. When compared to baseline there were no statistical differences. However, there were differences after a Bonferroni correction in the active group, which had more subjects. These differences consisted of general well-being, confidence and ability to study the Bible as well as several individual items of knowledge about scripture related to improved comfort and security in the subject’s relationship with God (P≤0.01).
    • It is unclear from our results why there was an increase in wellbeing in the active group. We speculate that the gain in knowledge about the security of their relationship with God, by faith alone, allowed for less guilt and greater confidence.
  • Teleios research – The wisdom of scripture – At the University of Georgia, Teleios found Christian and non-Christian students alike recognized scriptural wisdom as being good for their life, such as ‘Be slow to speak and quick to listen’! (13).
    • Why would Bible study improve wellbeing? Scripture is the instruction manual by which we can mature and live our Christian life. The Holy Spirit uses scripture in our life to teach us, provide us power and to produce good fruit (Ephesians 6:17; Galatians 5:22-23; 1 John 2:27).
    • Just as when we buy a new iPhone or droid we read the manual (hopefully!) to determine how it may be used to help our life, so we should study Scripture for our Christian life. The more we read and understand the more fruit we should gain.
    • Importantly, this takes personal study of God’s word. Accordingly, in a recent Teleios sponsored survey of conservative pastors, they overwhelmingly supported the concept of using scripture to teach truth and not jargon in the church (14).

Summary – Scripture study adds wisdom to life and enhances wellbeing! We have a wise and wonderful God who made us and knows exactly what we need! Please stay tuned for the next chapter ‘Outreach’ which discusses the 5th tool to maturity.

 

 

  1. Parsons S et al. Religious beliefs, practices and treatment adherence among individuals with HIV in the southern United States. AIDS Subject Care STDS 2006;20:97-111.
  2. Reed P. Spirituality and well-being in terminally ill hospitalized adults. Res Nurs Health 1987;10:335-44.
  3. Keefe F, et al. Living with rheumatoid arthritis: the role of daily spirituality and daily religious and spiritual coping. J Pain 2001;2:101-10.
  4. Cotton S, et al. Exploring the relationships among spiritual well-being, quality of life, and psychological adjustment in women with breast cancer. Psychooncology 1999;8:429-38.
  5. MacIlvaine WR, et al. Association of strength of community service to personal wellbeing. Community Ment Health J 2014;50:577-82.
  6. MacIlvaine WR, et al. Association of strength of religious adherence to quality of life measures. Complement Ther Clin Pract 2013;19:251-5.
  7. Stewart WC et al. Review of clinical medicine and religious practice. J Relig Health 2013;52:91-106.
  8. Stewart WC et al. The source and impact of specific parameters that enhance well-being in daily life. J Rel Health 2016;55:1326-35.
  9. Stewart WC et al. Association of strength of religious adherence to attitudes regarding glaucoma or ocular hypertension. Ophthalmic Res 2011:45:53-6.
  10. Hamilton JB, et al. (2013). Reading the Bible for guidance, comfort, and strength during stressful life events. Nurs Res, 62:178-84.
  11. Levine EG, et al. (2009). The benefits of prayer on mood and well-being of breast cancer survivors. Support Care Cancer, 17:295–306.
  12. https://teleiosresearch.com/the-effect-of-bible-study-on-wellbeing/
  13. https://teleiosresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Wellbeing-in-college-students-data.pdf
  14. https://teleiosresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Pastor-biblical-exhortations-data.pdf

 

Share This