For those who are unbelievers and question their eternal future and are unsure where to begin, I will attempt to give you some tips on where to start. Many of you might have been intimidated by a worldly church or some who have claimed to be Christians but live a life of hypocrisy, which might have confused and frustrated you.

Let’s put that ALL in the past and start today! I will give some suggestions below of which worked in my personal witness and testimony which might help you.

1. If you struggle to believe in God and His existence, a simple humble prayer you can say is what the man in Mark 9:24 prayed, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” God knows you do not believe, He knows everything, even your thoughts before you even contemplate them. Now this prayer must be said in faith, open your heart. If need be, repeat it until you do believe God is listening.

2. If you have a Bible or would like to do this online such as Biblegateway.com or other Bible sources, I suggest start by reading a Gospel account in the New Testament. If you are a beginner to this, pick either Mark or John.

3. Next, before you start reading, turn off the radio or TV, make sure you are able to focus. Remove all your thoughts from the day, anxieties, pressures, relationships, etc. Close your eyes and take some deep breaths to clear your mind.

4. With your mind now clear, you must now also remove from your mind any religion you may have been taught in the past, ALL of it! Also any political or ideology you might have about God, MUST be removed. Go into this as IF you never heard of God before. If you do not do this? You will become frustrated and will learn nothing, it will be a waste of time and energy. You need to now OPEN your mind. Holding onto those past thoughts will CLOSE your mind off. This step I would say IS THE MOST IMPORTANT!

5. Now when you have done the previous steps in earnest, you are ready! Start with the first chapter of the Gospel. I love to give this as the motivated task. Picture yourself as the VERY FIRST Bible reader on the planet. The Gospel of Mark or John was just completed and YOU were the first to read it. Now it is your job to read and study it as to teach others what it means. God has tasked YOU to be His teacher to reach others, so take your time and really take this serious.

6. Now that you accepted step 5 above, start your study. Read every verse as if God is speaking directly to you. Don’t read it as a novel, but as an instruction book. Each verse will be an instruction tied to the next. So slow and steady is how you should be doing this. If something is hard to understand, stop, and ask God “what is this?” and read and study it again.

7. Now that you have started, take notes on every verse or passage. Write down your thoughts. And don’t worry if you are wrong, just trust in God, and that He will provide you understanding and guidance. It is ok to write “this doesn’t make sense”. And then go back to that note later when it does make sense.

8. Because it is simple but serious, there is no time table. Don’t think you need to complete a chapter in an hour or even a day. Just remain disciplined however and do this every day, even if it is just a couple of verses. My personal way of doing this initially was a chapter a day, but your pace may be slower or faster depending on God and His working with you.

One other thing that might help in this as it helped me was to have someone read out loud the verse to you as you read along. Or you just say the words out loud will help. Study each word and don’t overlook common sense and logic as you do this. I guarantee you that if you read some of the Bible in the past, and now this way, you will discover MANY things you took for granted and just flat out missed.

I guarantee you that IF you follow these steps, you will see things you have not seen before! If not, it isn’t because I am wrong, it is because you failed in one those steps most likely closing your mind or going into it with a negative attitude. God will stop His teaching as soon as that is detected, and never think you can outwit Him.

I do pray and hope in the name of Jesus this helps those who want to believe but for some reason you were either intimidated or frustrated in the past. May God open your eyes to His truth!!