His grip tightened and we prayed one phrase at a time a prayer similar to this:
"Dear God I believe in you and I need you in my life. Have mercy on me a sinner. Lord Jesus as best as I know how, I want to follow you. Cleanse me from my sins and come into my life as my Savior and Lord. I believe You lived without sin, died on the cross for my sins and arose again on the third day and have now ascended unto the Father. I love you Lord, take control of my life. I believe you hear my prayer. I welcome the Holy Spirit of God to lead me in Your way. I forgive everyone and ask You to fill me with Your Holy Spirit and give me love for all people. Lead me to care for the needs of others. Make my home in Heaven and write my name in Your book in Heaven. I accept the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior and desire to be a true believer in and follower of Jesus. Thank you God for hearing my prayer. In Jesus name I pray."
It was an awesome and glorious moment! We were just three brothers rejoicing in Christ. I said “There is rejoicing in Heaven now! You are saved!' I read the following scripture:
“There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents' Luke 15:10
“There is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.' Luke 15:7
Mr. Bush was smiling and Jim Sale and I were rejoicing! It was a glorious and happy time.
I then said, “I now want to share with you what Jesus has done in your life. I have written then in a pamphlet called 'The New Life'. I will leave it with you as well as the 'Big Question' tract that has the outline of what I told you earlier.
Having repented of your sins and asked Jesus Christ into your heart as Savior and Lord it is important now to consider what has taken place:
Jesus has come to live within your heart
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me". Revelation 3:20.
When you open the door (your will) Jesus comes into your heart to stay. This is a personal relationship with God. You can come to Him with every need and receive certain victory. The One who has made us now comes to live within us.
Your sins are forgiven
But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:7-9.
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9
The Bible teaches when we repent of our sins the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. To repent means that we turn our backs upon the old way, to put our trust in Jesus and desire to live for Him from now on. When we repent and ask forgiveness our sins are gone. God forgives us — this is good news. Other people may remember but God erases your past.
You are saved
That 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. For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation. For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame". For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For "whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved". Romans 10:9- 13
To be saved means that we have been delivered form spiritual death through faith in Jesus Christ. Sin separates us from God, but Jesus bore our sins on the cross and paid the eternal penalty for our sins. When we receive Jesus we are saved from the penalty of sin which is eternal separation from God, we are being saved daily from the power of Satan and one day in heaven we will be completely saved from the presence of Satan and sin.
You have received eternal life
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. John 3:16
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23
Before you receive Christ the Bible declares you to be spiritually dead, but now in Christ you are spiritually alive. Not a temporary life in Jesus, but an eternal relationship with Him. He will be with you every moment from now on. He has promised never to leave or forsake us.
Palm of the Hand CardYou are now the Child of God
But as many as received Him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name. John 1:12
Now therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. Ephesians 2:19
Through faith in Jesus Christ you are now in the family of God, you are the object of God's love and can be sure that your relationship with Him is close, personal and intimate. As a father would love his children and care for them so even God our Father now loves and cares for us.
The Holy Spirit abides within you.
Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy spirit who is in you, who you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will dwell in them, and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people". 2 Corinthians 6:16
God has revealed Himself to us as God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. He comes to live within us at the moment of conversion and makes our body His dwelling place. Through the Holy Spirit the fruits of the Spirit-filled life (But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self- control. Against such there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23) can become a living reality.
You have become a new person.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17
Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." John 3:3
Many times people call their new birth in Jesus their 'new birthday'. Inwardly we have become a new person. Things are changed. Jesus Christ changes the heart. The outward actions of our life then become different. God's Spirit lives and abides within us.
Your relationship with other people has changed.
We forgive others as we expect God to forgive us. Walk in a forgiving relationship to others.
Forgiveness is a mark of a true follower of Jesus
"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." Matthew 6:12
"And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses". Matthew 11:25- 26
We now love other people as we know God loves us. We should be willing to share the material things that God has blessed us with. We should be concerned about the whole of a person - body, mind and soul - and should seek in every way to meet the needs of others.
And do not be drunk with wine, in which is excess; but be filled with the Spirit. Ephesians 5:18
When we are saved the Holy Spirit comes to live within us, yet often we are not fully in the control of God's Spirit. To be filled with the Holy Spirit is a moment-by-moment walk. When you realize that any attitude or action is not of God then, at that moment, repent, ask God's cleansing and have Him refill you with the fullness of His Spirit. We are filled with His Spirit when we repent of all sin, yield our life to His control and by faith ask to be filled with His Spirit. It is vital for your life to be filled moment by moment with His Spirit. You, as a new person in Jesus Christ, have begun life's greatest adventure.
What to do Now!
Pray Daily.
Pray without ceasing. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 He spoke a parable to them that we always ought to pray and not lose heart. Luke 18:1
Prayer is a moment-by-moment relationship with God. You can pray at any time, at any place. As we share every need of our life with God in prayer we can know that He hears us. Prayer is also being open for God to speak to our life. It is in this most personal way through prayer that we grow spiritually day-by-day.
Read the Bible Daily.
These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things are so. Acts 17:11
But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. Psalm 1:2
Jesus said "Man cannot live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God". We need to eat the spiritual food of God's word daily, to study His word and be obedient to His commandments.
Witness for Christ Daily
But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Samaria, and to the end of the earth. Acts 1:8
And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. Acts 5:42
Prayer and reading our Bible daily is to strengthen us and help enable us to bear witness of Jesus to others. We should seek to witness for Jesus to every person we meet wherever we are. We should not be fearful or timid, but we should be loving and open as we tell others of Jesus. We are saved to share our faith not simply to wait until Jesus comes to receive us. Our commission is to go into the entire world and preach the gospel to every person.
Confess Christ Openly and Be Baptized.
Therefore whoever confesses Me before me, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. Matthew 10:32
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. Matthew 28: 19-20.
Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. Acts 2:41
Jesus always calls His disciples openly to follow Him. We are not to be secret disciples but open witnesses. Therefore Jesus has asked us to confess Him openly and follow Him in baptism after we have put our faith in Him as Savior. Jesus was baptized in water. He commands us to be baptized and early followers followed His commandment. Baptism does not wash away our sin but it is an open testimony that we have died to one way of life to live a new life with Jesus.
Attend Church where the Bible is preached and Christ is honored.
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:25
Every follower should be in fellowship with other believers praying, singing, worshipping, studying the Bible, following Christ's commandments and seeking to preach the gospel of salvation to other people and minister to all the needs of our fellow man. It is vital that we assemble ourselves together with others to grow spiritually and help others. This fellowship can be found in many Churches and also often in small Bible Study and Prayer Groups in some friend's home.
Keep Christ's Commandments.
If you love Me, keep My commandments. John 14:15
Jesus said if we love Him we will keep his commandments. We obey the commandments of the Bible because we want to. A person that loves Jesus desires to be obedient to His will and accepts that the way the Bible has asked us to live is right and proper for us. Therefore we seek daily to walk as He has asked us to walk.
We talked for a while more about following Jesus. I encouraged him to tell his wife and friends what had happened in his heart. I told him he needed now to grow in the Lord and study the Word of God and be open in his testimony. I told him I would not get up and announce in the meeting about him being saved.
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