How to grow in faith

egyboy

hello everyone,
I would like like some opinions and advice on this matter. I recently finished the fall college semester and I am suddenly hit with A LOT of free time.  How does one keep himself occupied with God? How do we keep ourselves from sinning when we have nothing to do?  How do we increase our knowledge in Christ when we have plenty of time but are too lazy to do anything?  I think these questions apply to many college students as well as non-college students.  Hopefully we can all benefit from each others advice. Thanks

God Bless. Please pray for me and my weakness.

Christforlife7

I'm in the same case right now! What I've done is pick a part of my faith that is weak, have done research on it, read about it in the Bible, read books about the topic and pretty much all I can get my hands on.. For example, I'm praying to understand God's love more, so I'm reading The Epistles of John, and reading "A Love Worth Giving" by Max Lucado who is an awesome artist and such an easy read.

We also all complain of not having enough time to do agpeya and quiet time in our every day lives, but now that we're free we have no excuse. We should be getting up early and focusing on his message for us daily, and over the course of this break. I hope I helped, and hopefully we have the will power to be able to do this. I'm struggling with this stuff myself and hope this is a good pla to take benefit from our free time.

Pray for me :)

egyboy

Thank for ur help Tishori
but i have another question, how do we fight laziness? i know this is a big problem for me, even during the semester.  How can a person force himself to do something beneficial? I know what to do that can be beneficial but at the same time I dont want to do it.  I remember there is a verse that says "Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin." -James 4:17

how do we grow in faith while fighting laziness?

please pray for me and m weakness

user00

First of all, egyboy, I have to say i think all your topics are very interesting and applicable. I know exactly what you mean here. But honestly, sleeping until 12-1 pm everyday and waking up to do nothing gets kind of boring. I think eventually, when you do this long enough, you get bored and start to crave more activity and more interaction with God. One thing to think about it about next semester. Think:
"Okay, last semester I really didn't have enough time for God. How can I change that next semester? How can I arrage to start my day with the agpeya prayer? Where in my schedule will I have time to read the Bible and a spiritual book? Take a good look at next year's semester and made plans for those empty time slots before classes, in between classes, and after class."

Also, many churches have retreats during this time for college youth; perhaps you might consider attending one if you are able.

Third, try reading a spiritual book that you benefit from reading-- if you are engaged in what you're reading, you will be more likely to finish it.


You can also have time to meditate, write, draw, be creative. You can do some of this relaxing/fun stuff that there is never time to do during the semester.

Also, if you took a difficult class (like chemistry or biology or whatever) that has a part 2 next semester, maybe you can try to get ahead of the game and maybe read the next chapter.

Basically, winter break is a good time to reestablish some of the good habits you had or know you should have and might have lost during the craziness of the semester with a firm will not to lose next semester. It is a good time to practice organizing and managing your time so that you have a better hold of your time during the semester, when time seems so sparse.

I hope this helps. I know break is half way done, but hopefully it can still be at least semi-productive!