I’ve come to realize over the past few years that I need a group of people around me to keep me accountable in my walk of faith. I need people to lead me and walk beside me. When I’m around the right people, I notice my faith is often strengthened and my walk becomes a little easier.
These people, my friends, encourage me to study the Bible, to pray, and to seek the Lord in everything I do. I am so blessed to have them in my life. I fully appreciate this blessing, because I clearly remember what it was like to walk alone. That walk was incredibly difficult.
We all need people around us to encourage and inspire us to study God’s Word and to help us live it out. We need people to pray for us when struggles and battles arise. We need to see others seeking God in their lives, so we know what it looks like to seek Him in our own lives. We need ALL kinds of people surrounding us, encouraging us, and inspiring us. Life is not meant to be done alone. We are better together.
So where do you find these people??
Church
Obvious answer right? However, I went to a church early on in my walk of faith, but I was never able to truly connect with anyone there. I wasn’t able to foster and nurture the relationships in Christ I desperately needed. And because of this it was almost impossible to grow and mature in my faith.
Now I’m at a church where I thrive in the fellowship. I look forward to Church and seeing EVERYONE. I’ve truly made wonderful friendships. These friendships don’t just exist within those four walls, but they spill over into my everyday life. They’ve become the people we celebrate and do life with, and they’ve become the people we turn to in our times of need.
Honestly, some of them are more like true family now. I guess that’s why God says we are all brothers and sisters in Christ.
I’m a firm believer of being in the right place, at the right time, with the right people. My husband and I, along with our children, have grown so much since walking through the doors of our home church over four years ago. Radical transformations have taken place within our lives, and it’s all because of the people God is using to influence, encourage, and inspire us within our church.
Serving Others
It wasn’t long after joining our church that my husband and I took our next steps and started to serve God and serve others. This step lead us to making connections in our lives that are priceless. The people that fed into us in our first year of serving within our church helped us grow so much. They encouraged us. They inspired us. And for the first time, in a very long time I felt like I belonged.
Through seeking the Lord I began to see other areas my time, talent, and treasure could be used. Each step I took, someone was beside me cheering me on. Now it’s my privilege to help people take their next steps within our church. Week after week I’m blessed with the opportunity to encourage and inspire our teams to keep pushing forward into their areas of service.
If you are a member of a church, but are not currently serving within it, I highly encourage you to start. Take your next step! Get involved! Meet people. Develop relationships that have a positive impact on your life. Give back. I promise you won’t regret taking that next step.
Small Groups or Bible Studies
There’s nowhere better to find people to help encourage you and inspire you in Bible reading, study, prayer, and fellowship than a small group or Bible study group. Studying with others can help deepen your understanding of scriptures and biblical topics. Some of my strongest relationships in this season of my life have come out of being a part of small groups within our church and community.
I encourage you to take time to pray about joining a group and let God lead you to the right one. If you don’t have small groups in your church or community, then maybe you can be the one that organizes a group!! What a wonderful way to serve God and serve others!! There are so many Bible Studies available, your options are limitless!!
Prayer Groups
Prayer is powerful. Prayer changes everything. Prayer is your direct key to Heaven, it unlocks all the goodness of Heaven into your life. Now imagine a group of people lifting you and your situations up in intercession. Reaching out to Jesus on your behalf. Finding a prayer group to join or starting your own is a wonderful way to stay accountable in your prayer life. It’s truly a blessing to be able to pray for others.
It’s amazing to have people in my life to lead me and to walk beside me. But I also try to be conscious of those that are still walking behind me.
Life is not meant to be done alone.
We are better together.
As I look for friends to encourage and inspire me to study the Bible, to pray, and to seek the Lord in everything I do- I also want to BE THAT PERSON in someone else’s life. So I pray God would lead me to those I can encourage and inspire in their walk of faith. This is it. This is the purpose. Leading a guiding people towards Christ in love. It’s so much simpler than we make it.
Do you know someone who would be encouraged by this Blog Post? Please share! By doing so you are helping spread His Light to others 🙂
I would LOVE to connect with you! Like and follow along on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.
AND
If you found this Blog Post encouraging and would like to subscribe to E-Mail notifications for future post please do so!
As always your thoughts and comments are welcome!! Connecting is so important in forming Godly relationships!
