You may have read through the articles on this site and desired to have the promised victory and fulfillment in your life, but there is one key to success that is more important than any other.
Without this, the Bible is just another book.
The Key To It All
Just reading the Bible and trying to use it to obtain your success isn’t what God wants. There is an important element of the system that many people overlook. It is that choice for the acceptance of Christ as Lord and Savior.
What is your relationship with God? Do you know what it means to have a relationship with God? If you were to walk outside, get hit by a truck and die today, do you know if you’d go to heaven or not? Would you like to know that beyond a shadow of a doubt that you’d be with God in heaven after you died?
There are many opinions out there. Some say that you will get into heaven by living a good life or by treating others well. Many religions speak of these same things, about how certain works or numerous good works will get you to heaven. Can you imagine getting to the pearly gates of heaven after you die and the gatekeeper says “Aw man, if you would have done just one more good work, we could have let you in.” That seems extremely uncertain. How do you know how good is good enough?
The Good News!
The good news of the Bible is that you can know for certain how to get to heaven. God gave us a way to do just that.
He gave us Jesus Christ, who came and died on the cross, taking on all of our sins, before being resurrected three days later. He paid the ultimate price for those sins, as the perfect sacrifice, of one who never sinned. But we must choose Christ if we’re to go to heaven.
Many people don’t realize that our sin has separated us from God. Sin is not just some wrong actions or thoughts, but a heart that is inclined towards evil. That’s how we were born.
We’ve all sinned. The Bible says in Romans 3:23 that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Even if we’ve only sinned once in our lives, that still separates us from a God that is perfect and holy. On our own, we’re without hope of ever being with God. He can’t be around something that’s less than perfect and holy. And we can’t do that on our own.
For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.
John 3:16 (AMP)
Because of God’s love and grace, He sent His own Son, Jesus to earth as a man. Jesus was the only one to never sin. Then Jesus died on the cross for us “so that He might take away our sins” according to 1 John 3:5.
But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us.
Romans 5:8 (AMP)
Jesus took away our sin in His own body on the cross so that He could bring us to God.
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,
1 Peter 3:18 (NKJV)
There isn’t anything that we can do on our own to pay the penalty for our sin. If we could, then God wouldn’t have sent His son to die for us. Only the blood of Jesus can wash away our sin.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23 (NKJV)
After Jesus died on the cross, three days later, God raised Him from the dead, showing that Jesus truly was the Son of God and that God was satisfied with the payment for sin. Many people then saw Jesus before He returned to His father in heaven.
A Free Gift
God gave His Son as a gift of salvation. Now…the choice.
Accept the gift that God gave or don’t accept it. It’s as simple as that.
The ONLY way you can come to God is through faith in Jesus Christ. Only Jesus paid the price for our sins.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
John 14:6 (NKJV)
Knowing these facts alone doesn’t save you. You must respond by accepting the gift, by trusting in Jesus Christ alone as the only One who can forgive our sins and give us eternal life.
The penalty for sin is eternal separation from God. But you have the opportunity to receive the free gift of eternal life with God through Jesus.
Say you were thirsty and I went to the soda machine and bought you a drink. I then held it out to you, as a gift. You then agreed that was great and even acknowledged the fact that there was a soda there, but you’re still thirsty. What’s the problem? The gift is there, but there is something that you didn’t do. What’s that? You didn’t reach out to accept it. To get the gift, you need to receive it. You need to take that can of soda into your hands. That gift is out there, but will do you absolutely no good until you receive it. That’s the same with Christ. You need to actually receive the gift.
How do you go about trusting in Him and receiving this gift?
That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
Romans 10:9-10 (NIV)
Would you like to make the most important decision in your life, to trust Jesus Christ for your salvation?
If so, then respond in faith by saying this out loud to God, remembering that it’s not the words that save you:
Dear God,
Thank you for loving me. I recognize and admit that I am a sinner. I believe in my heart that your Son, Jesus, died on the cross to pay for my sin and that You raised Him from the dead. I trust Jesus alone to forgive me and take away all of my sins. I confess that Jesus is now my Lord and Savior. I receive and thank you so much for this gift of salvation and eternal life. In Jesus name I pray. Amen!
If you prayed this prayer and trusted in Christ today, welcome to the family of God. You can now be assured that you will spend eternity in heaven. Jesus promises in John 10:27-28 that “my sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.”
If you have prayed this prayer, please share your story with us by sending us a message via our contact form.
God bless!
