When we put belief in ourselves or someone, support is followed, which leads to trust.
For example, since God gave me a writing gift through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, I believe I can be a Christian writer.
Because the empowerment of the Holy Spirit was so strong, I used to believe I could be a successful writer without studying biblically and theologically formally. In addition, I did not think I could study at a Bible college before becoming a Carey Baptist college student because my English was not good.
Nonetheless, I think I have always had a passion for studying the Bible and theology since I received a writing gift from God.
However, since I heard that doing biblical and theological studies would enrich the effectiveness of my writing, and I believed this is true, I set studying at a Bible college as one of my aims.
Although some of my papers were marked as C or C-, I got pretty good grades on most of them.
I graduated with the New Zealand Diploma in Christian Studies, and I have two years left, including 2023, to graduate with a Bachelor of Applied Theology.
One compulsory paper for those studying for a Bachelor of Applied Theology is Integrative Project, and I am doing it next year.
I guess Integrative Project is that students have to choose a theological subject for their context and then write an essay(s) on it. As it may be more challenging than it sounds, I am nervous about it.
Nevertheless, since I love to challenge myself to deeper learning of biblical and theological studies because I believe this will deepen my intimacy with the Triune God, I am determined to do Integrative Project next year.
Although I am not sure if I can be a successful Christian writer in the future, I trust God’s marvellous work within me through the power of the Holy Spirit.
God wants us to do our best in everything we do, but we often need to trust the goodness of His work and believe in Jesus while putting our best efforts in (Romans chapter 8, verses 28-30).
Without having a firm belief in Jesus, God could not be known, and we have no living purposes since He is the foundation of life (John chapter 14, verses 6-7; Luke chapter 6, verses 46-49).
Of course, people still could enjoy their lives without Jesus, but life without Him is only temporal.
Non-believers only live their earthly lives, whereas believers can live their lives even after their earthly ones since their spiritual lives are invested in Jesus (John chapter 3, verse 36).
Unfortunately, since Adam, the first person created by God, sinned by eating the fruit in the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the rest of humanity has sinned even without knowing.
People cannot remove their sins by sacrificing specific animals. God had to send Jesus, the second Adam, into the world to be sacrificed on our behalf.
Overall, Jesus turned our sinful nature into rightful nature by sacrificing Himself (Romans chapter 5, verses 12-21; Hebrews chapter 10, verses 1-18).
Hence, it is necessary to believe in Jesus.
We become God's children when we accept Him and believe in Jesus as our Lord and Saviour (John chapter 1, verses 12-13).
The Holy Spirit within believers marks that He is within us. Jesus sent the Spirit as divine guidance to those who are determined to follow Him for the rest of their lives (Ephesians chapter 1, verses 3-14).
Therefore, it is essential to trust the leading of the Holy Spirit, especially when circumstances become challenging (John chapter 14, verses 15-26; John chapter 16, verses 7-15).
Furthermore, God’s word had been written by believers in ancient times so that we might read and hear it to become righteous and devout people of God (2 Timothy chapter 3, verses 16-17).
Good Bible verses to memorise are Romans chapter 10, verses 9-10:
“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”