I have been a saved believer for about 8 years now. There are some things that I have known but not truly understood until now. For example, I had always known that a lot of the christian life truly is about obedience, but not an obedience given from a fear of punishment. No, I had always known of an obedience that led to understanding and a spirit at peace.  An obedience that was asked for from a loving God and for our highest good. I have not begun to understand that until recently.  I will only say that for these years I have been seeking answers from God and "exploring" his grace. I haven't gotten anywhere really, to be honest. I am reminded constantly by his Spirit of the fourth chapter of Philippians, where Paul tells the church to think about those things that are worthy and lovely and noble and true. Do this, and the God of PEACE will be with you. I have wasted so much time being disobedient to this word, and I'll tell you what, I have suffered for it.  I cannot stress how important it is to fight for your mind and how crucial it is to know who your enemy is.  Once again we are told in Ephesians 6 that it is not flesh and blood with whom we are at war, but it is against the spiritual forces of darkness. We are to love our neighbor as well as our enemy. We are to treat our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ with the utmost honor. We are to encourage and not tear down. We are to be light and salt to a world desperately in need. We are to place all our hope and sight and faith in the only one who is worthy and faithful. It is not impossible, but I'll be honest, it is not easy. The flesh nature will be quick to rise and fight every effort made to submit to the will of God. It will try to reason with you to indulge its desires. It will make you think that you can't live without something. Its all a lie, and it is overcome by keeping the TRUTH in mind. The truth of who you are, who God is, who Satan is, and the nature of this world and the world to come. Keep your eyes on the prize.