How To Receive The Free Gift of Salvation from Jesus

Have you ever felt the influence of God on your life? There are times when our hearts feel a tug from a realm other than that which is pressing around us in the every day world. A person would say something, or something would happen that just could not be a coincidence. In every case, the response in our hearts will bear witness  to the fact that, yes, there really is a loving, caring God who created us and who is not willing  to leave us in the dark concerning His plan for our lives.

At first our reaction is to respond in whatever way we have been taught. Usually it is with skepticism. We add up the facts and come to a conclusion, usually wrong, because most of the facts we use come from a world that is hostile against God. The swelling up in our hearts, that glimpse of hope, is just too good to be true and we often turn back to the familiarity of the miserable world around us for protection against a big letdown. Maybe it just doesn't line up with our own expectations. Our minds could then fall victim to  being in denial of what the heart is hearing. 

The word, "gospel", means "good news". In fact, it means, "really great good news!". When this good news reaches us, a voice speaks to our heart very softly and says, "This is Truth!". That voice comes from God. It is the Voice of God drawing us to himself. It has an effect on our heart. It gives us a choice to believe. Before we heard this good news of God's Realm, we made decisions based on what the world taught us. Now we are in a position to choose between two opposite ways: God's way or the world's way. The struggle is in the choosing.

Faith is, pure and simple, making the choice for God. It is not something we just decide to do on our own. It is not "blind faith". It is a response to that which God has already revealed to us. It is a gift from God to begin to question our own "reality system". We can choose to believe that it was not the living God manifesting himself to us at that time, and many of us have done so over and over again. But then the day comes when we are convinced. We believe. It is the work of the Holy Spirit on our hearts. No one person can take the credit for this. It is a miracle of God. Faith then turns into faithfulness to the Living God who has proved Himself faithful. Faith is a relationship with God.

What is Repentance?

The word, "repent", simply means to "turn". When we make this choice to believe, that is in essence what we are doing. We are turning from one realm to another. The realm we are turning to is called the Kingdom of God. Every time we believe what God reveals to us we make a choice. Every real choice has its outworking in some kind of action. We will change. We will do things differently. We will manifest a changed attitude. Every time we make a choice for God we are in a state of repentance which keeps us in a state of fellowship with God and also with other believers. Repentance is the result of our lining up with the truth

Sin

Unfortunately for our fragile egos, the first major thing that God reveals to us is the fact that we are sinners. In our culture, that is not a well-taught and popular subject. What happens is that God reveals a portion of His own nature to us (it doesn't take much) and we automatically reach a conclusion when we compare ourselves to such a holy, loving, forgiving, powerful God. We know we are a sinner when we catch a glimpse of God. We aren't really looking for God. God is looking for us, drawing us and leading us to Himself through His Holy Spirit.

God doesn't leave us in the same state in which we come to Him. He has already dealt with the sin that so easily separates us from Himself and has provided for us the way to actually know Him. Our task is to humble ourselves and receive it. By confessing that yes, indeed we are sinners, we state the truth and place ourselves in a position to be in agreement with the Spirit of Truth.

Forgiveness

Faith is really a response to Jesus' finished work on the cross. The "really great good news" of the gospel is that Jesus came and died for our sins. We actually don't know the full extent of our sin towards God (though we can feel the effects), and neither do we know the extent of the cross. Every possible thing that could ever separate us from the holy and righteous God was dealt with at that cross of Christ. We can discuss religion and theology until we are blue in the face, but the reality remains the same, and we are left with a holy wonder and amazement at the realization of the love of God. We can experience this incredible love that God has for us by receiving the gift He gave in order to free us from sin and death. Jesus is that gift that God provided to give us life and a right relationship with Him. That is the gospel.

Many people go to Jesus to get out of a problem and then go back to their old ways when things are back to normal. (I did, several times.) To ask Jesus to be Lord means to give Him your life totally. He gave his life for our sins, was buried and on the third day resurrected from the dead. When he rose from the dead it showed all of heaven that our sins were paid for. We have been justified in the sight of a Holy God because of Jesus. We have been forgiven. We are free! Not free to go back to our old lives before we knew Him, but free to serve Him with our whole heart.

If after reading this you have come to the conclusion that you have not yet made Jesus your Lord and Savior, you can ask him to come into your heart now. You need no one to pray with you. He knows where you are right now. Talk to Him. Sometimes all we have is a desire to believe. If that is the case, ask God to reveal Jesus to you. He will.

Maybe you once knew Him and have gone your own way. The way is still the same to get right with Him. Respond to the gentle voice tugging at your heart and line up your life to what has been revealed to you. He loves you too much to let you go.

John 16:13,14

I Timothy 2:1--5

Isaiah 57-19

IICorinthians 4:3-5

Romans 11:33

I Corinthians  2:12-14

John 14:26

Deuteronomy 30:19-20

John 3:17-21

John 15:22

Ephesians 2:8,9

Romans 10:17

Titus 3:3-7

Acts 26:18

Isaiah 60:1,2

Colossians 1:13,14

Matthew 7:24-27

I John 1:3-10

Isaiah 59:1,2

Romans 3:23

Romans 6:23

Isaiah 55:6-11

James 4:10

Philippians 1:6

John 3:16

I Corinthians 13:12,13

Ephesians 3:14-21

I Corinthians 8:2,3

I John 3:1,2

Romans 10:9,10

John 8:36

Matthew 5:6

Isaiah 57:15