So you have just surrendered your life to the Lord. You repented of all your sins and acknowledged Jesus as the Son of God, that died and was resurrected to save us all from our sin. You dedicated your life to Him and picked up your cross to follow Jesus. What now? What's the next step?
After you surrender to the Lord and make Him your Savior, then you need to make Him Lord of your life completely. A full surrender means giving Jesus every aspect of your life. You must trust Him completely. See our article Who Runs Your Life? to help you do this. You must understand that you need to trust His plan for your life and that you are no longer in control of your own life.
The next step you need to take is to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This is when you will receive your gifts of the Spirit including your prayer language (note some do not receive it right away... I didn't for a year and a half, a friend didn't for 9 years, don't let this trouble you). The Holy Spirit touches your heart and is beside you and in your heart when you are saved but does not dwell in you with you being the temple until you receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It is at this moment, that He overflows your heart and completely engulfs you, flooding every part of you: body soul and spirit. When this happens your spirit is sealed with the Holy Spirit. Any demons in your spirit are driven out as they cannot dwell where the Holy Spirit resides. The demons attached to your body and soul (mind) will remain until you receive deliverance. When you receive this baptism, you will also receive your gifts. The gifts of the Spirit are very much in operation today. You will get at least one gift. You may get the gift of faith, wisdom, knowledge, healing, miracles, prophecy, tongues (which is different from your prayer language), interpretation of tongues, discerning of spirits (which is different than discernment), or any combination of these gifts. For more information on the baptism of the Holy Spirit, watch this video.
You will also need to be baptized in water to represent being buried and risen with Christ. This act symbolically washes your sins away, though being baptized will not make you born-again. Salvation is not in the water baptism. It is a symbol of what you already asked Christ to do and a sign of obedience to His commands to be baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19) or in the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:38-41). The baptism of water is a necessary part of our walk with Jesus. Acts tells us it is part of how our sins are forgiven. Some theologists have noted the act of water baptism washes the sin off us and Christ in turn takes it on. They attribute this to the fact that baptism for the repentance of sins was not required for Him to perfectly keep the law and Jesus had to be baptized to take on the sin of the world at that moment for everyone the Father already knew would have their sins washed away by the blood of the Lamb during our baptism. However it is important to note the thief on the cross next to Jesus was unable to be baptized but still enters heaven. God knows there are circumstances when it is not possible. Some will tell you only a minister, pastor, bishop etc. that is ordained by man is able to baptize someone. However, the Bible shows us a few points on this matter. The first point, man does not ordain anyone. God ordains us and sends us out into the 5 fold ministry. This doesn't require any paperwork by the church or ministry organizations as none of the apostles were given any documentation or even permission by the temple, nor did they in turn give any to churches that they started. Secondly, we see Ananias, was sent to Paul to lay hands on him and heal his sight as well as impart the baptism of the Holy Spirit and water baptism. Ananias was not a church leader, yet was just a saint. Any born-again, Spirit-filled baptized Christian can baptize someone in water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Not only that, but it can be done in any water that will have you fully immersed in water. It doesn't have to be a baptismal at church. A sprinkling, pouring, or anything that isn't full immersion is not a water baptism. A baptism that was not that person's choice, such as baptizing a child before they could choose for themselves, is not a proper water baptism. It must be a choice made by the person, who understands what they are doing fully, and must be complete immersion done in the name of Jesus or in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If you have not been baptized in water, by full immersion, and wish to do so but have no one that can, contact us and we will see if we have someone close enough to you to do so. We aren't everywhere by any means but you never know. We could have someone on staff, or a friend willing, just blocks from you. Email Stacie at fearnoevilministries3@outlook.com to find out.
Once these measures have been taken, or even after the first step of being born-again, you, as a new believer, must be discipled. You need to be taught the word of God, how to apply it to your life, good doctrine, discernment, how to operate in your gifts, how to continue to grow in Christ, how to endure temptation, how to accept correction, how to study the Bible for yourself so that you are not deceived, and many other valuable tools. You may be called to a five fold office. How do you operate in that office? You may have specific anointings. How do you flourish in those and use the resources God has provided you with to their potential. You will need to understand mantles, redemptive gifts, prophecy, deliverance, the great commission and so much more. Many believers are led in a prayer to accept Jesus and thrown to the wolves to fend for themselves. We offer a full discipleship at Fear No Evil Ministries. We have Facebook groups, as well as small groups, and we have service online every Sunday at 5:00 pm central standard time on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Periscope and here on the website. If you are on Facebook, send a request to join our discipleship group at our Rise Up Church group. If you have previously been in the occult, we have a special discipleship group for those that face tougher spiritual warfare. Message us to become part of that discipleship group or you can email us at fearnoevilmnistries12@outlook.com as well.
Finally, I recommend that every new believer receive deliverance. The enemy will slip in any little crack they can get into, and if we open doors they flood through. All sin opens doors to the enemy. There are things like unforgiveness, abuse, trauma, fear and other things that open doors as well. All of us have had sin in our lives. This means we have let demons in and they need to be cast out so they don't impede our walk with Christ. Some of us have even been through trauma, abuse, rejection, and fear events that have left such a wound our souls have been fragmented and an alter was created. This requires deliverance for deep soul healing. All of us have ancestors and many have to deal with generational curse lines passed down through the family due to the sin of our fathers. These can be anything from cancer runs in the family to hereditary mental illness or a large number of other things we will keep for another article. Our ministry also offers deliverance and we do not charge a fee for it. Donations are welcome, but ministry is free. Freely we have received and freely we give. You may message us on Facebook (Messenger) or Twitter, or email us at fearnoevilministries7@outlook.com if you feel you need help with deliverance.
We hope this has given any new believers an outline of what steps they need to take, or perhaps even helped believers that have been with Jesus a while but were left to the wolves themselves. It's never to late to dive in and seek more of the Lord. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you. May the Lord bless you and keep you in all your ways. You have family here. Join us in our journey to walk the narrow path that leads to the gates of heaven. If you have not yet been saved by the grace of Jesus please read How Do I Become Born Again? or message us for help on Facebook or Twitter. You can also email any one of us on the staff page. Have a blessed day.
