Salvation

I didn't grow up in a traditional church going family.  My parents believed in God, and we attended church on occasion but I didn't know anything about prayer, tithing, the holy spirit or even salvation.  In my immaturity I believed that God was a good God and I would go to heaven because I was basically a good person.  After all I had never stolen anything or killed anyone.  As far as I could tell there were a lot of people doing way worse things than I was.  I was ignorant, and my ignorance was sending me to hell.

My first mistake was thinking that I was basically a good person.  The bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23).  My second mistake was thinking there were degrees of sin.  Many of us fall into the trap of comparing ourselves to other people when Jesus is the true measuring rod.  Most of us know about the ten commandments and most of us have fallen short.  We have either lied, hated (which God considers murder), lusted (which God considers adultery), gotten jealous (covetous), dishonored our parents, used God's name in vain, or honored something over God.

In reality there are actually 613 commandments in the bible, but in Luke 10 Jesus narrowed it down to just 2.

1.  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
2.   Love your neighbor as yourself.

But if we are really honest with ourselves we know that even with only these 2 commandments we still fall short.  So now what?

Well luckily even in my immaturity I was right about one thing.  God is a good God.  That fact in itself is the reason He has to punish sin.  His righteousness demands it. But His perfect love found a way to save us in spite of our sin.  John 3:16-17 says "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."  God gave us a way out!  I once heard a preacher say that you have to fight to get to hell.  He was right.  You have to fight to ignore every sermon or scripture you've ever heard.  You have to pretend you can't read the billboards and signs.  You have to outright rebel against your conscience and crawl over every prayer that someone says for you.  Well I'm praying for you to lose that battle.

Father God, I come to you now on behalf of the person reading this post to plead for their everlasting soul.  Father please continue to draw them closer to you, help them to yield to your will for their life. I thank you for bringing them to this site today and for protecting them on life's journey thus far. I pray that you continue to be a hedge of protection around them as you bring people and situations into their life that will guide them to your saving embrace.  Lord I ask that you break the strongholds that the enemy has on their life and allow them to be declared more than a conqueror in Your son Jesus' name. Amen

The bible says if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (Rom. 10:9).  If you believe in your heart and are ready to make this confession, repeat this prayer:

Father, I'm a sinner, and I need my sins to be forgiven.  I know that my sins have separated me from you and I am truly sorry.  It is my heart's desire to turn away from those sins and be renewed with your Spirit.  Please forgive me and empower me to avoid sinning again.  I believe that your son, Jesus Christ, was born, died, and resurrected to save me.  Thank you Lord for saving me.  In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Congratulations!  The bible says that the angels in heaven rejoice when any one of God's people is saved.  Your name is now written in the Lamb's book of life and you are a joint-heir with Jesus Christ of all the promises of God.  I encourage you to get a bible so you can know for yourself the full life that comes with being a Son of God.  Please let me know if their is anything I can do to support your Christian walk. Welcome to the family!