Dear Beloved,
What is salvation? It is saying “Yes” to the greatest love of all time. This love accepts you unconditionally. It takes you right where you are in the condition in which you come. It sacrifices for your good. It protects and defends and heals. This love is patient beyond all understanding and filled with mercy for you (Lamentations 3:22-23). This love is not a hard task master but a grace giver (Hebrews 4:16). It transports you from the shackles and bondages of a carnal, physical world into the expanse of a supernatural life in the Spirit. It moves you from darkness into light (1 Peter 2:9; John 12:46; Colossians 1:12-13) and assures you of an eternal life of peace and joy beyond anything you can comprehend here on earth with your worldly senses and experiences. It is the love of Christ for you, and it is simple to receive.
It’s sometimes hard to step out in faith and take hold of something and believe in something as pure and good as what I am describing. That’s because you’ve never experienced anything like it before, and because of that, you may think it is too good to be true. You may think you have to work to earn it because we live in such a performance-driven society where our worth is based on who we know, or how much we have accomplished, or how hard we work, or how rich we are. This love doesn’t care about any of that because it only cares about you! This love isn’t trying to get anything from you; it is only trying to get something to you: peace, joy, compassion, understanding, gentleness, life, health, goodness, supply, eternal life with God! That’s hard to believe isn’t it? Well it’s true, and the only way you can experience it is to just become like a child and step out in faith and say, “I believe!” That’s even hard to believe – that something so wonderful could be so easy to receive. It’s certainly easier than working 40 hours a week for that paycheck! It just takes one instant out of your entire life. Think about that! It’s as easy as saying, “I believe the love of God for me.”
What did the love of God do for you? God loves you so that He sent his Son Jesus to earth so you could have someone with whom to identify and with whom to relate. In Jesus, God made His love real to us. Jesus dwelt among us and shared our burdens. He showed us God’s compassion. He submitted Himself to death so that He could take on Himself all of the sin, sickness, and evil of the world as our substitute, so that we could be clean, free, and forgiven from all of it and stand before God totally pure and righteous (Isaiah 53), accepted forever into God’s arms of love, able to rejoice with Him forevermore (John 3:16). Think about that. Think about the happiest moment of your life; think about the greatest joy you have ever felt. Then think again. That is nothing compared to the joy you will have for eternity when you accept His love for you and rejoice unceasingly in His presence.
As I said earlier, accepting that love is the easiest thing you will ever do. You simply say, “Dear God, I believe that Jesus is your Son, that He died on the cross for me and was resurrected for my redemption. I choose to make Jesus the Lord of my life. I thank you for forgiving me and for filling me with Your Holy Spirit. I thank You that I am Your child, that You are my Father, and that You have great things planned for me. Amen.”
That’s all there is to it! You have just started the most awesome adventure of all time. . .your eternity in the love of God! Welcome to the family of the greatest love you will ever know!
Pastor Lisa Marie
If you have never made Jesus the Lord of your life and desire to, pray this: Dear God, I believe that Jesus is your Son, that He died on the cross for me and was resurrected for my redemption. I choose to make Jesus the Lord of my life. I thank you for forgiving me and for filling me with Your Holy Spirit. I thank You that I am Your child, that You are my Father, and that You have great things planned for me. Amen.