Wed. Feb 12th, 2025

Next Steps

Welcome to the family of God! Now that you are part of his family, you need to grow as a believer. New born babies need milk, love and care to grow. New believers also need to do some things to grow and become strong believers in God’s family. These are the BASICS:

Bible reading and study

If you hide God’s Word in your heart you will avoid sin. (Psalm 119:11)

Learning to Use God’s Word

To help us grow we need to read what God has written. When we read the Bible our aim should be to meet God and not to just read a book. We should also read the Bible with the aim to see how does the passage relate to my life?

It can be helpful to use a reading plan to read the Bible. We have a reading plan on our site that you can customise to to suit your needs. But feel free to use any plan you feel comfortable with. If you are not sure where to start, begin with the book of John and read a paragraph each day.

Studying a Bible Passage:

To study God’s Word select a passage, read it twice, and look for a:

➜promise to take
➜sin to avoid
➜condition to meet
➜command to obey
➜example to follow
➜verse to memorise
➜prayer to repeat
➜blessing to enjoy
➜truth to learn

Write down what you have found in a notebook or make a note on your Bible app.

Memorising a Bible verse:

As you study the Bible you may also want to memorise some verses (Psalm 119:11). Below are ten verses to get you started:

Joshua 1:8-9
Psalm 119:11
Isaiah 40:31
Proverbs 3:5-6
John 3:16
Acts 1:8
Romans 8:28
Philippians 4:13
1 John 1:9
Revelation 3:20
  • Ask God to help you remember the verse.
  • Write the verse on a piece of card or make a note of it on your phone.
  • Review the verse regularly.
  • Carry it with you all the time.

Attending and fellowshipping together

Hebrews 10:23-25 says meet together to encourage each other.

Learning to Fellowship with Others

God has created us for community. We all need a spiritual community to support us and encourage us. Others need to be encouraged and supported by you. This means you need a church family to help you grow. You should look for a church that is growing and teaching Biblical truths. You are always welcome to join one of the local Salvation Army communities near you. You can use our map to find the nearest one to you. We would love for you to join us.

Reflection Questions:

  • Which Church Service do you plan to attend each week?
  • What is another way I can meet and fellowship with other Christians?
  • Think of the name of a strong Christian that you can go to for spiritual guidance.

Stewardship of time, talents and treasures

Honor God with your Time, Talents and Treasures. (2 Corinthians 9:7-8)

Learning to Give to God

God has blessed all of us with time, talents and treasures. These are given to us to bless and help others (Ephesians 4:11-12). This is between you and God. However you may want to consider the following as a guide:

Decide on how many minutes you will spend with God everyday.

Consider how much of your income you would like to give back to God.

Which talents, gifts and abilities do you have that would be able to serve other?

If you are not sure what your gifts and talents are you can use our free Spiritual Gifts Test as a guide.

Intentionally share your faith

Pray and look for opportunities to talk about the One who loves you. (Matthew 28:18)

Learning to talk about God

The most important thing you can do is to tell others about your experience of God and how He changed your life. This is called witnessing. A witness does not need to know all the answers or even explain everything about God. A witness just needs to tell what they have experienced. Think about how becoming a believer has changed your life – and then tell someone about it.

You may want to pray and ask God to give you opportunities to talk about him.

Prayer: “Lord, open the heart of one of my friends so that there is a natural opportunity to talk about You, open the way for me to share and give me the courage to open my mouth. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

Perhaps you can identify a family member or friend who does not yet know Jesus. Pray about sharing with them what God has done for you. (E.g. “Jesus I will do whatever it takes to bring my friend, _________________________, to heaven with me.”) Commit to daily pray for them, tell them about Jesus and bring them to the next church service/outreach event.

There are many ways to share the good news! If you are not sure what to say you could point your friends to our Good News page or share the following booklet with them.

Communicate with God

Have a daily time and place where you meet with God. (Colossians 4:2-3)

Learning to Communicate with God

There is no specific right way to talk (pray) to God. The important thing is that you spend time everyday talking to Him. God loves you and wants to hear what you have to say. If you are not sure how to pray you could use the following as a guide. Spend a few minutes on each step.

  1. Worship God.  To worship is to say beautiful things about God to God.  “O Lord, You are so wonderful.”  Or “Lord you have made a beautiful world.”  Or “Lord, Your forgiveness is most wonderful to me.”
  2. Give thanks.  Thank God for things and happenings in your life. Thank Him for saving you.
  3. Confess any wrong that comes to your mind and ask God to forgive you.  He will! (1 John 1:9).
  4. Intercession is praying for others.  This is a important part of your new life as a Christian.  It is here that we use our hand as a guide (system).  It helps to remind us who to pray for:
  • Thumb: This finger is closest to your heart, so you start by praying for people who are closest to you, like your family members.
  • Pointing Finger: Think about teachers or preachers in your life and pray for them.
  • Middle Finger: This finger is the tallest, just like leaders in the church, community, and country. Pray for them too.
  • Ring Finger: It’s the weakest finger and reminds us to pray for the vulnerable, struggling, sick, old and frail people.
  • Small Finger: Finally, pray for yourself and share your own needs with God.

Write down some of your prayer requests and answers to prayer or note them on your phone. As you pray you may also sense God talking to you. You should note that as well.

Submission to Gods leading

Jesus said: “If you love Me, you will obey Me.” (John 14:23)

Learning to Please God

As we read God’s Word, Pray and meet with other believers, God will begin to talk to us. When you become a believer the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16) enters our life to guide and direct us. You will sense God guiding you to do something or to stop doing something. When we are obedient to these promptings we Worship God. And that is pleasing to God.

Reflection Question:

One thing I think Jesus would like for me to change in my life is…

As you face different situations each day you may want to ask yourself: What would Jesus do?

If you do these 6 things you will begin to grow into a strong believer. If you do them daily you will grow quickly.

REMEMBER

To develop a habit you must repeat the action for 21 days!