We would love to follow up with you. Filling out this form is not required, but it will allow us to help you connect with others along your journey.
Your First Seven Days…
now that you are saved
CONGRATULATIONS! 🙌 🙌 Welcome to the Kingdom of God! You just made the most wonder-filled decision of your life. You trusted Jesus as your Savior and Lord. But can I share a little mystery about this? The irony of what actually happened is God chose you! That’s right. In that moment you said yes, something else was already happening. God was already saying a BIG “yes” over your life! 🤯 God’s been pursuing you for a long time.
I have written this little introduction to help you in your new walk with Jesus. I named it “The First Seven Days” because this first week is a time of incredible opportunity and growth for you.
The choices you make in the first seven days will set the bar for what this new life will be for you.
I’ve included the top seven questions we all have when we first begin this faith journey. I really believe your moment of faith will mark for you a whole new way of seeing and experiencing life. You are about to be blown away by the radical change and impact that your life is about to become. All of us and all of Heaven stand with you in your decision to live your life in the light of God’s ❤️.
God loves you, and so do I.
Pastor Robin Steele
Your First Day,
What does it mean that I am saved?
“You just got saved!” This is a statement you hear around the church, but what does it mean?
First, it means you are saved by God’s love. There is a big word for this that’s kind of cool when you unpack it. It’s reconciliation. Your spirit and God’s Spirit are reconnected. At the deepest part of you, you were put on good terms with God. Why? Just. Because. He. Loves. You. Not because you earned it, or got super good, or got your stuff together. God’s love is a gift, another word for this is grace. You got a gift that saved you. You simply opened your hands and received it. Simple love. The feeling you had of being lighter, freer, hope-filled, grounded, cleaner, faith-filled, or joyful means you have had an experience of being aligned with God, the God who is love.
How does that feel? ___________________________________
Second, it means you are saved from a past. There is a big word for this, and it’s called redemption, it means to revalue someone or attribute worth to something. When God forgave your past, God saw it as valuable, not worthless! Not only are you clean before God, but your past regrets become repurposed as a message of hope. Your wounds, worries, and weaknesses have been purchased with the blood (life) of Christ Jesus. The moment you received Jesus, He received your worries, wounds, and weaknesses. You are as valuable as Jesus! This means your stock has gone up! Your past mistakes (a word the Bible calls sins) and regrets are no longer curses you’re doomed to repeat, but a past reclaimed, repurposed, and redeemed! You are valued as a child of God. And part of a new community of people who have experienced the same kind of redemption as you!
What area do you feel has benefited most from this salvation? _________________________________
Third, it means you are saved for a purpose. Your faith activated God’s adventurous plan of your life. The big word for this is regeneration. Your whole life is being regrown, renewed and reinvisioned. To be saved means that our tomorrows have meaning, our future has a hope. What you experienced when you prayed and accepted God’s love over you was so transforming that your future shifted into a glorious path filled with the purpose of heaven.
What area of your future are you most hopeful for? __________________________
What all this means is that you have been saved, are being saved and will be saved. That moment you accepted Jesus has a ripple effect into your past, present and future.
Read Ephesians 2:1-6 (MSG) Out Loud: It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.
Pray: God, it’s my first day! Thank you! I hardly know where to begin so I’m gonna take this first step of continuing to believe all the goodness you have for me. Thank you for the cleanliness I feel inside. Thank you for the hope I have today. Thank you for the life of Jesus, which I believe will show me the way forward and the way to grow and the way to live and the way to a fulfilling life. I’m here to learn. Teach me. I’m here to follow. Lead me. You love me. I love you, too. Amen.
Scriptures* to Geek Out On: Ephesians 1:3-14; Romans 5:1-11; Jeremiah 29:11-14
Click the hyperlinks above to do a deep dive into what the Bible has to say about your salvation.
Your Second Day,
So now what? What am I supposed to do?
So, God has done this wonderful work of (big words again) reconciling, redeeming, and regenerating your life! How does all this work in you, and what are you supposed to do?
We are told that the greatest commandment, or the number one “to-do,” is to love God with our heart, mind and strength. You already started this when you said yes to the love of God. You started loving God with your heart. Now you just want to continue doing that daily by talking to God from our heart.
Prayer is the word for communicating with God. Truly all of life is prayer. We, however, start this communication by using our words as a means of connecting with God. This can feel intimidating or beyond us, but it’s simple. It’s just having a conversation and imagining you are talking to Jesus. That’s it. In fact, Jesus taught us how to pray because he knew we would feel awkward. Let’s try it now:
“This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven,
Give us today our daily bread,
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’
--Matthew 6:9-13
This would be a good place to start each day. In fact, for the next 6 days put this prayer in practice each morning. I sometimes stop at each section and listen or connect my feelings with the words or adlib my own words. The most exciting thing about this prayer is that God is listening. God is there with you. As you pray you get to reconnect with your salvation moment and with your Savior. You get to be in God’s presence.
After you pray the prayer be still for a couple minutes. Sit in the silence. Enjoy the presence of God.
Scriptures to Geek Out On: Matthew 6:5-15; Luke 18:1-14; James 5:13-18
Your Third Day,
What else can I do to grow?
So, like I said yesterday, I just want to remind you, God has done this wonderful work of (and here are these big words again) reconciliation, redemption, and regeneration in you! All these big words mean you are a brand-new creation of God. Now here is what is so adventurous about this: we get to work with God in this wonderful remaking of our life.
Yesterday I shared the first major to-do is to love God with all our heart, mind and strength. Jesus called this the greatest commandment. The exact quote goes like this, “‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’” (Mark 12:29-31). Did you notice the word above, ‘hear’? This signals that our love is somehow connected to our hearing. Right before you accepted Jesus, you were listening to a sermon, song or prayer and this listening awakened your longing for God. We want to continue this listening. To love God with our mind we orient our ears to hear and listen to God. Reading Scripture is the best place to start loving God with your mind.
I recommend that for the first 16 Days you read the Gospel of Mark; one chapter each day. For many new Christians The Message Translations is the easiest to understand. I would also recommend NIV or NLT or ESV, all of which can be found online for free at BibleGateway.com or on any free Bible app. But whatever translation you pick, it’s not as important as that you just start reading Scriptures. So, get up each morning 15 minutes early and read one chapter of Mark. Once you finish reading Mark, I recommend the following journal prompts to help you reflect.
¨ What story or words stuck out to me? ______________________________
¨ If I could ask Jesus anything about these words, what would I ask? ___________________________________
¨ What could I do today to integrate something from this Scripture reading into my day? ___________________________
Let’s go for it. Pick up Mark 1, read it, and then journal about your reading using the above prompts.
Scriptures to Geek Out On: Mark 1
Your Fourth Day,
What if I make a mistake?
This is the number one question every new Christian asks. That should tell you something. Everybody stumbles, makes mistakes, sins and is unsure what it means and what to do. Becoming a Christian doesn’t mean we don’t ever make mistakes but that unlike in past when we got arrogant or shameful, now we are humble and talk to God about it. Jesus anticipated this and talked about it a lot. He knew, that usually when this happens, we feel guilty, ashamed, unworthy, and inauthentic. Satan pounces on us, makes us feel even worse, and before we know it, we may be tempted to give up altogether. When I have stumbled in the past, I have heard things like, “Why not just give up? You aren’t worthy of someone like Jesus. You are a fake. What’s wrong with you! Your faith isn’t real! If God really happened to you, you would never have stumbled.”
First, the fact that Jesus and his first followers addressed this lets us know that God knows we will all fail at some point. It’s not the end of the world or the end of your salvation. In fact, Jesus says to his number one disciple, Peter, “You will fail, but I have prayed for you that your faith fails you not.” In other words, you are going to make mistakes, and it will be your faith in God’s forgiveness, mercy, and love that will get you through.
Second, when you fail, here’s the first step to getting back up. You simply confess your failure to God. The Bible in speaking to people who believe in Jesus says, “If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleans us from all unrighteousness.” Try it right now. If you said, acted or thought something that you know or feel wasn’t right, use the wording below to humbly confess it to God.
God, I made a mistake when I _______________________________________. I humbly confess this. I do not want to walk in darkness or denial, but to walk in the light of Jesus. Thank you for Jesus’ pure and holy life, His innocent blood. I confess that this blood is given to me to cleanse me and restore my soul. Today, I get back up and continue this journey. Amen.
Third, once you confess you can go even further. There is another big word called “repentance”. It means to change your thinking. God knows we get stuck in our thinking and so we are invited to get out of that stink’n think’n. Repentance literally means to “think beyond” your limiting beliefs. Jesus used this word frequently as a word that prepares us to receive Good News. It’s a call to think bigger of God’s forgiveness, God’s love, God’s mercy! It’s a call to let our imagination free from the self-hatred and voices of shame, and free our thoughts to our belovedness, our child of God truth! I’ve included a repentant prayer here, go ahead and try it out:
God, can I call you Father? I don’t feel like I am a child after what I did. But Jesus taught us that we could call you heavenly Father, even before we ask for forgiveness! Wow! Right now, I change my mind about a few things. I sometime think your mercy has limits, but I change my mind about that! Your mercy is limitless! Your love is infinite! I change my mind about how generous your grace is! And as I change my mind, I ask that you help me change, too, my thoughts, behaviors, attitudes! I want to just turn my back on all the negative self-talk and turn my face to you. Amen.
Finally, once you have confessed and repented, comes the beautiful part! Believe. Trust. Accept. God goes to work cleansing, forgiving, aligning, healing, and so much more. You get to trust God. You get to watch and witness God go to work in and through you. Wow! Sometimes when I come to this part, I’ll say something like this:
My beloved heavenly Father! Thank you! I am sitting here trusting your forgiveness for ___________________. I accept your gift of a clean heart. I know Jesus’ life and death are the gracious picture of an innocent life that is offered to me freely, lovingly and joyfully. I cannot express how thankful I am for that! Amen.
Sometimes I feel better, and sometimes I don’t. What I have learned over the years is that God walks this forgiveness out by faith, not by my feeling. Eventually the feeling will follow, but I remain focused on my faith in God ,and God graciously does the work.
Scriptures to Geek Out On: Mark 1:14-16; 1 John 1:9; Psalm 51
Your Fifth Day,
What about my old friends?
This chapter comes from my friend, Mike Hayes. He claims that this is the most important question he got in over 40 years of pastoring in Dallas. So, here’s Mike:
The strength of your relationship with God is going to be determined largely by the relationship you have with other people. People influence us. We can’t help it. As human beings, we are social creatures.
The people we allow into our circle of influence determine the decisions we make. The people we hang around are the ones who influence us the most, even if it is by television. Have you noticed how a style of clothing can sweep the nation in a short time? We are influenced by what we see and hear.
As a new Christian, you are facing the challenge of dealing with the relationships you have. You are probably already thinking about this: “Should I tell my friends, family or spouse who are not saved what just happened to me?” I think you should tell them. Did you know that most of the people who get saved are the result of someone telling them about their experience with Jesus? The important thing to remember, though, is that everyone may not celebrate your new life with you, at first. Don’t be discouraged. Some of the old friends will go away. Make new friends who are Christians.
The Church is full of people just like you who can strengthen and encourage you. Reach out to them. Don’t isolate yourself and be discouraged by the devil. He will tell you that no one cares about you, anyway. If your friends or family members hear about you getting saved, and you are able to lead them to the Lord, that’s great. But don’t be discouraged if they do not come to the Lord right away. Just put them on your prayer list. They will come into the Kingdom of God later. Do not let them influence you. You are a disciple of Jesus Christ now, not someone without a purpose just being blown around by anyone with an opinion. I can’t encourage you enough to build a support network of new Christian relationships to lean on.
One of the best ways to do this is to get involved in an area of ministry. God has a special calling on your life. The best way to find that calling is to begin to serve in some area of volunteer ministry in the church. What do you enjoy? Singing? Supporting? Greeting? Tech and Audio Visual? Helping people who are down?
Remember this. No one was saved to sit down! Everyone is saved to serve. Your greatest fulfillment will be to find your place and get involved.
Who are your closest friends or family that have a positive influence in your life? ______________________________________________
Who are your closest friends or family that have a negative influence in your life? ______________________________________________
What are you looking for in new Christian brothers and sisters? _____________________________________________________
Lets Pray about this right now together:
Father, I would like to ask for your help with my friends. First, would you give me wisdom in when and how to share my faith? Next, would you give me discernment to know how to set healthy boundaries with my friend group. And finally, would you point me in the direction of new friends who support my faith, and celebrate my growth, and encourage me when I’m struggling? In Jesus’ name, Amen
Scriptures to Geek Out On: John 13:34-35; Psalm 1:1-2; 1 Corinthians 15:33; Romans 12:4-5
Your Sixth Day,
What are my next steps and milestones?
There really are so many wonderful things to look forward to, exciting milestones and incredible spiritual experiences along the way. I want to mention a couple of them here to kind of give you something to look forward to.
Personal Milestones. Along the journey of faith, there are two significant milestones. The first is when you accept and come to trust in Jesus Christ. There is nothing like this in all the world, as you well know. As incredible as that was, many new Christians claim that the second milestone is even better. The second milestone involves taking what is happening inside of you and expressing it outwardly. The milestone where this happens is called baptism. Baptisms are incredible moments and experiences in the Christian faith. Baptism is your next step, and it involves learning and preparing your heart. At PROMISELAND we practice baptisms many times a year. Additionally, we have Next Step Classes just for you, and Discover Weekends where we empower you to find your story in the Story of God. You will make new friends and join in with others who are eager to learn and grow. This Sunday after the service come forward and talk with one of our prayer leaders and ask them to pray with you about the next steps to take toward baptism and Next Steps.
Communal Christian Calendar. Christians celebrate Christmas, Lent, Good Friday, Easter and Pentecost Sunday. These are joyous and glad times of remembering Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit. You will want to join in these celebrations and enjoy the full features of your faith and joy.
Christmas falls on December 25. Usually the four Sundays leading up to this are joyous reflections on the coming of Jesus; we call this season Advent.
Lent commemorates the 40 days of Jesus in the wilderness. It is a time of reflecting on growing our spiritual discernment and strength through prayer and listening to God. Many people will fast some, turn off news and other negative voices, and grow their faith, hope and love.
Good Friday is the Friday before Easter. It’s a day that reflects on the death of Jesus. Many Christians find this day particularly to be a day of healing and incredible spiritual depth.
Easter changes each year on the Calendar but is during the Springtime. It is the signature celebration for Christians. It’s festive, joyful, and happy with lots of singing and good energy. It’s my favorite Holy Day. The hope is almost palpable.
Pentecost Sunday happens 50 days after Easter and commemorates the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the diversity of culture, and ethnicity within the church. At PROMISELAND we usually celebrate this by worship and waiting on the Spirit of God.
Your Seventh Day,
How often should I gather for worship?
As a new Christian I recommend every Sunday. The very first Christians gathered weekly on the first day of the week, Sunday, to remember the resurrection which happened on the first day of the week. They gained strength, knowledge, inspiration, vision, and heard the Voice of God in those gatherings.
The Sunday gathering isn’t the church; you are the church. But the church gathers on Sundays and has for two millennia as a way of honoring and worshipping God for raising up Jesus from the dead. New Christians that make Sunday worship a regular part of their new life will experience blessing, because they are putting God first with their time. They also are happier because they begin the week in communal gratitude. Finally, I have witnessed over and over people, who use Sunday as the first building block for their new life, restore order out of the chaos of their lives at an accelerated rate. By showing up on the first day of the week to worship, you are declaring with your body language and will: Jesus Christ is resurrected, and He gets the first day of my week.💜💜🥰💛💛🫶🩵🩵
Sunday is like continuing education for my faith as a disciple of Jesus. To that end I come fully prepared and ready to engage in the whole experience. I have the following checklist that I go through each Sunday when I gather. I encourage you to come up with your own or one similar. I make sure I’m not just checking a box of attendance but that I am intentional and focused and bringing my best self to the moment.
Intention (what do I want to worship God for today)
Paper and Pen or Tablet for notes
Bible or smart phone with Bible app
Heart to serve (where will I serve others today)
Gift (an offering, a financial gift to honor God with)
For years I have used this or a similar list. I believe it is one of the reasons why Sundays are the highlight of my week and why I get so much out of gathering. It doesn’t matter who is teaching, who is singing, or what the lesson is, I always walk away with a deeper connection to God, spiritual growth, and deeper sense of community.