Thank you to those of you who have been asking questions, both in private messages, emails, and folks who have been responding to the blogs and responding to the YouTube channel. I appreciate all the comments and all the thoughtful questions.
One of the things I found myself struggling with just this weekend was finding the time to respond to folks and while working on everything else. I think it was on both Saturday and Sunday, I found myself during my evening prayer just wrecked, frankly, kind of in a doldrum, down-in-the-dumps depression over my inadequacy to get it all done, to be effective in all arenas at the same time.
For instance, I’ve got some client sites that I should be doing as a form of ministry. I have my own studies (I’ve gone back to school and I’m currently pursuing a Bachelor’s in Religious Ministry) and I don’t feel like I’m making great ground with that. Then, to have these comments rolling in—it’s good, it’s great, it’s exactly one of the things I’m encouraging; for folks to comment and to have that dialogue. That’s why we put ourselves out there; to engage others in the conversation.
In this case, we as finite beings are trying to wrap our arms and our heads around God, the Infinite, and so that in and of itself is an exercise in vanity, but still we have to try. We still try to gain a deeper understanding of God. I’ve heard it put that, “The more we come to know God, the more humble we should be growing.” Intellectually, when I heard that, I’m like, “Oh, yeah. That makes sense.” As we begin to know God’s nature a little more, we should be growing more humble. We won’t necessarily grow more humble until we know God more, so it’s a relationship; a deep ratio there.
I don’t want to presume that that’s what I’m experiencing in my depression during the evening prayers, but certainly there’s some mortification going on when I look at how pathetic my efforts are in the world. All I can do is plant these seeds in the form of videos, in the form of discussion or blog posts or responses… and then it’s up to God to really bring fruit to that. There’s nothing I can do that doesn’t have God’s hand on it if it brings success, if it flourishes to success. I can be banging on whatever efforts I want to, but it’s God that brings the growth. It’s God that brings the fruit.
It’s just like when we plant a seed in the garden. Some of those seeds will bear bruit, some will not, but none of it has much to do with us. We can bring water. We can bring plant food or fertilizer. We can bring some of these other things to it, but ultimately it’s God that says whether or not these seeds bring forth any life.
I think that I was stewing in my own inadequacy. Just producing a post or producing a video—so what? At the end of the day, so what? I can only do so much, and I think that’s where I was getting stuck, as in, “Lord, look at how inadequate this is!” For me to be able to produce a blog post (that takes me hours to stamp out) or for me to produce a video (that may take me one take, or maybe should take me more than one take…) but to even come up with this stuff and put it out online to share it—not as a guru (definitely not as a guru)—more as a student or a reporter on my position or my journey. I hope that it helps people and I hope that God can use me to move the multitudes.
That’s my prayer—and it’s a big prayer—but it’s a prayer that I say gently and with caution because I don’t think that I am deserving in any way to be used as such a vehicle. Exactly the opposite is what I’ve been feeling. I even cracked up during my prayer. I laughed a bit. I had to say, “All right. Lord, I’m not laughing at your ability to use this mess that is me. I’m laughing at this mess being used for anything good in the world, is really what it boils down to. This mess of a human being. I find it laughable that you would use this smallness, this pathetic story to your own glory, but if that is your will, I will be subjecting myself to that. If that’s your will. If it’s your will that I do nothing, that I spend the rest of my life doing menial labor or nothing. If I die tomorrow, it is your will. Let your will be done. That’s what I’m trying to do. I’m trying to subject myself, my will, my ego, my intentions for my own life, to you, Lord.”
I think that ultimately, when I sit in that space and I think of how ridiculous it is that God would even use me knowing where I’ve been and the dumb stuff that I’ve done and how infantile I am in my faith. I think some of this might even be coming from watching some of these great Christian apologetic teachers, like Greg Bahnsen, like Ravi Zacharias—some of these folks out there who are doing some fantastic teaching. Then, I compared it to where I’m at in my own apologetic study and my own walk in the faith, and I think these guys have decades on me— decades on me. I feel like I’m trying to crush 40 years into 3.
Hi, really interesting topic. I’d like to know something. Many Christians talk about salvation saying that the only way to be saved is by proclaiming Christ as lord and savior. However, I do not really understand how that works. I’ll explain, most of the believers I know have said that to me, you know, that you must accept Jesus as your savior. However, this same people are always spreading hate, judging others, complaining about everything, etc. It surprises me they say something like that and do not even practice what Jesus Christ teaches, how can you be saved by accepting Jesus and not even working on your own behavior? When it comes to accepting Christ, I’ve always thought it was about applying his teachings to your life, and man, I’ve got really interesting experiences, a feeling of relief, love and happiness that cannot be found in the material world.
Would you mind telling what “Accepting Christ as lord and savior” means to you? :) Cheers.
Sure thing, MetalHero!
Before I answer, let me get grounded on a couple things.
We Are All Lost
First, let me say we ALL need saving. We all fall grossly short of the glory of God. We all have sin. Per Paul’s letter to the Romans 3:9-18:
“For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written:
“‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.'”
Keep in mind, as Paul quotes from Psalms 14 and other Old Testament verses here, he was including himself in this description of our fallen state.
Our best deeds are as filthy rags before our Lord’s holiness (Isaiah 64:6). As we continue to grow in our relationship with God, we begin to more clearly comprehend his magnitude, power and love for us. As we begin to get a glimpse of this, we also begin getting a sense for our smallness, dullness and pollutedness. The more you know God, the more humble you become, ultimately.
It is from this spirit of humility that true Christians should be operating from–not from a spirit of haughty self-righteousness sometimes seen in unregenerate Christians (Matthew 7:5). Now, I’m not saying Christians who are experiencing regeneration in meaningful ways can’t falter or backslide; they certainly do. Cling to Romans 12:2:
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
You’re likely already experiencing this, as can be seen by your statement, “I’ve got really interesting experiences, a feeling of relief, love and happiness that cannot be found in the material world.” If materialistic concerns are beginning to lose their grip on you, this is evidence you are moving away from the physical and beginning to answer the spiritual call of the Father. This is fantastic! You may be interested in reading St. Teresa of Avila’s Interior Castle for a good map of the soul’s evolution toward God.
I believe this renewal Paul speaks of is where many folks stumble. If you go through a regenerative experience and allow yourself to be pulled back into degenerative living, your fall will be even greater than if you hadn’t been saved at all. This is why it is so important we dig into Scripture and seek baptism upon being “born again” in Christ.
Be careful to avoid the trap of discarding the truth of Jesus Christ because you see self-professed “Christians” behaving badly. That is to fall prey to what’s called an ad hominem fallacy. “Ad hominem” is a Latin term that means “against the man” and an ad hominem fallacy is where we discount a message based on the character or circumstances surrounding the person delivering the message. Again, I’ll bring you back to the verses I opened this message with, Romans 3:9-18. Not one of us is worthy. “No, not one.”
Why Do We Need A Savior?
Secondly, sometimes, folks ask why we even need a savior. Surely God wouldn’t have made mankind so completely broken and faulty if he was a perfect God, right? Well, as we see in Adam’s fall, things were made perfect, however once Adam and Eve chose against God, sin entered the world. God gives his created beings free will. The choirs of angels have struggled with this. Humanity has struggled with this. Certainly there is a purification that happens through this struggle, but there is also a sifting between those who cleave to God and those who reject him. According to Romans 1:18-25, all know him in their hearts:
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
“Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.”
Why Doesn’t God Just Make Us in a Saved Condition?
So, let’s answer the question why would a perfect God make imperfect wretches like us? Instead of his perfection being passed onto us, could it not be implied our imperfection is a reflection of God’s short-comings? Essentially, the notion is, “If the design is flawed, the Designer is flawed.” This is a funny one I’ve seen atheists use. The argument is a reversal. It subjects the perfect and holy Father to our own reptilian wisdom and sense of justice.
Isaiah 55:6-9
“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Meditate on that for a second. “As the heavens are higher than the earth.” How big is the universe? Those heavens. Soak in that for a moment.
Back to Adam and Eve. They walked with God himself. They were pure creations in a “saved” condition. If angels (also created beings with free will) can err, apparently so can mankind. And so we did. And so we do.
What Accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior Means to Me
So the foundation has been set. We are all sinners. We all need saving. We cannot save ourselves.
For many years, I maintained a relationship with God but I went around Jesus to do it. I thought Jesus was a great teacher and a great example for us to follow. I knew God wanted a personal relationship with me but I still wasn’t clear on the Trinity, so I simplified things and just focused on God the Father. Then one Sunday morning, my pastor’s sermon slapped me awake with:
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Matthew 7:13-14)
That sermon brought out in me a hunger to know Jesus–to study his example. As I reacquainted myself with Scripture, it became painfully obvious there was a huge gap in the account of Christ’s life in the Bible. Only now do I realize this is by design. (Matthew 24:35 is proof of this.) If we could follow Christ’s path step-by-step, we would continue to chase him under our own power instead of allowing ourselves to be shaped by God through faith. This is why so many other methods or false religions for reaching God lead to destruction.
In John 14, Jesus is very clear:
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
In my three-day salvation prayer experience, I had to understand this and renounce my previous errant attempts. Certainly there was more renouncing than understanding when I first moved through this, but the more I get into God’s Word, the more I understand this. Even writing this response to you has helped me soak in this truth more. So, thank you for asking!
Dream log, Sunday, 02/21/2016, Lexington, KY, after 5 a.m.
I’m living during another time. 1970s? I’m living with a different family at an older farmhouse on a hill, surrounded by cornfields. It is a clear, sunny day. The corn is maybe shoulder-high. I go down the hill from the house to the polebarn where I enter a workshop. Outside I hear a ruckus, so I run out to see the sheep have been scattered. I find an injured lamb by the far corner of the polebarn. I young man I know to be my (step?)brother is there. He is larger than me, more muscular, with longer, light-brown mopish hair. He’s very rude and coarse. As I focus on the injured lamb, my brother scoffs at me in contempt and walks off.
At first, I can see the lamb has bloodied wounds on both sides. The wounds are serious, herniated, and I question whether the lamb will live. I notice it was trying to follow an older sheep that now stands a few yards away in the cornfield, but the lamb is so injured, it is too weak to pursue. I presume this is its mother. She stands still, with her back to the lamb, quietly waiting.
I turn the lamb around and now find its right side gaping open. I can look through a fist-sized hole in its side as if the lamb is made of porcelain. Inside is the broken piece of the lamb, which looks like a pork chop protruding from oatmeal. I realize the lamb will not live so I make it as comfortable as possible. As I lay it down on its back, the lamb begins to fall asleep.
I hurry into the polebarn to get a hatchet. I intend to end the lamb’s suffering. The workshop in the polebarn is large and rustic. On the far wall, there are two hatchets. Both are with short, wooden handles. The one on the right has more of a wood-splitting wedge on it. The left has is flatter and has a more circular, removable blade. Both hatchets are rusted and antique. I climb a wire-framed shelving unit to get to the hatchets and choose the flatter, more curved blade. The dream is very vivid and I can feel the smooth bars of the shelves as I climb.
As I leave the workshop, I realize my brother has been told by my wicked (step?)mother to collect the lamb so he will get credit with our father. She already is preparing the lamb for food.
Interpretation?
This feels like a variation of the Esau and Jacob story starting in Genesis 25:19. I symbolize Esau and this brother is Esau’s brother, Jacob. The imagery of the lamb of course would symbolize Jesus (or my journey to Jesus?). Would that make the solitary sheep in the field Mary? Normally, I’m decent at finding the meaning in dreams, but this one defies me for the moment. I have been told it may be revealed to me later.
Any ideas?
Ongoing notes until a final interpretation can be gleaned:
1970’s.. born again.. I was born in the 70’s
corn.. American way of life.. Americana.. simpler life.. sustenance.. abundance.. physicality
going down hill from house to polebarn.. leaving childhood to workplace.. growing up.. maturing
sheep have been scattered.. followers have been scattered.. church no longer unified
lamb.. at first seems this is obviously Jesus, but the lamb wanting the other sheep may indicate
lamb may not be Jesus.. Jesus would not seek consolation from Mary. innocence may be lost.. lamb
could represent my soul
brother ..more carnal.. could represent past version of me
lone sheep in field.. may be God waiting.. Mary would not likely have her back turned to her son
stepmother ..worldly.. physical needs.. not trustworthy
hatchets..
i didn’t have to kill the lamb.. carnal did.. deceit did.. sin did..
Like I said in my last video, God’s been working in my life something fierce.
So, following our first meeting, Scott and I have a couple more conversations. We made a commitment to keep the energy going, and so we started talking on the phone every Monday. I call him, we talk for an hour or more, and even those conversations were just awesome.
This man knows Scripture really well. Scott’s been a Christian for 25 years, and he’s been really active in his faith for the past 8 years. He’s had supernatural experiences in spirit. (Not that that’s any kind of benchmark, but… it is. In the Bible, it even says to seek the gifts. He’s actually experienced the gifts unlike most folks I know.)
We’re having these conversations and I eventually set up a time to go out and meet with him at his place. Again, it’s about 25-minute drive from me, so I head out there after the kids are in bed, and I arrive at his place about 9:00 p.m. Initially, we only thought I was going to be out there for about an hour, maybe an hour and a half.
I get to his place at 9:00 on the spot, and I don’t end up leaving there until 1:00 a.m. We just sat in his living room and talked the entire time. Really, it was him telling me more about his story and me telling him more about my journey. I had brought four books along just so I could show him all that I had been uncovering. I brought a Kriya yoga book, one of the books he had recommended to me (Jeanne Guyon,) a Saint Teresa of Avila book (Interior Castle,) and then a daily devotional that came to me as a Christmas gift through my wife. I presented my stuff, he presented his stuff, and it was just this awesome feast of sharing our spiritual journeys together.
One of the things that came out near the end of that conversation was this big question mark over me, however. He had told of his spiritual awakening, where somebody had witnessed to him during a party phase of his life, where he was killing lots of time splashing around the gutter. I had also had a splashing-around-the-gutter time in my life; pretty much my entire 20’s. That entire decade was just… yeah, a lot of going crazy. Having a good time, but going crazy and making a lot of dumb mistakes and bad choices. More on that later.
So, Scott was also in that low place in his life when he had somebody at work witness to him, and the witnessing… did something to him. He had said, “Oh, yeah, yeah. I’ll say the Salvation Prayer. Yeah, no problem. I’ll do it,” and then he hung up on the guy. Just being a turkey.
Over that next week, though, something began eating at him. And eating at him. And eating at him. Until finally—about a week or two later—he just melted down, went through the Salvation Prayer, renounced his sin-filled ways and he ended up committing his life to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Right as soon as he finished with that prayer, Scott felt this massive unburdening; this big, uplifting, full of tears and elation, with these waves of love and light and…POW!
That’s when Scott turns to me and asks if I had ever experienced anything like that, and my answer was, “Well, not quite.” I’ve had a couple Christ experiences (which I haven’t shared with you yet,) but I hadn’t had that kind of dramatic awakening.
So, I left there with this big question mark like, “Shouldn’t I have this? Shouldn’t this be part of my journey? I would love to have a supernatural awakening.”
I’ve had some supernatural experiences in my past, but I never really… it wasn’t around salvation. I definitely hadn’t experienced what he had. I didn’t have the big “woosh.”
I went home and did a quick Google search on “salvation prayer”. Scott had already given me the recipe on the way out the door, but I wanted to see the recipe in print, compare notes and get a better sense for it. That night, I ended up going through the Salvation Prayer. I guess I was hoping there would be some sort of supernatural affirmation I had done it right.
One of the things that was different for me on the Salvation Prayer was the notion of turning my life over to Christ. Now, I had done pretty much everything BUT that, even with the Kriya yoga work. I had sought out Kriya yoga because I thought Christ meditated, and absolutely, I still believe he meditated, but the Kriya yoga path doesn’t involve Christ really. You can do the whole thing without Christ. Christ says, “The path is wide, but the way to the Father is through me. It’s a narrow gate.” (Actually, he said:
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” Matthew 7: 13-14
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6)
My experience of Kriya yoga said you can climb the wall to God without going through the gate, but the Bible teaches you’re not going to reach God without going through the narrow gate of Jesus Christ. I realized this was exactly what I had been doing. Through my meditative practice, I was trying to climb the wall to God, and I certainly wasn’t attempting that crossing through Jesus Christ.
So, why wasn’t I trying to cross through Jesus Christ?
I was born and raised Catholic. You’d think I would have this wonderful spiritual foundation. I did have a personal love for God; that’s true. Growing up, I was the only child I knew who would occasionally skip recess to go sit in the still silence of our empty cathedral and pray. But before I even graduated, I had a Jehovah’s Witness friend at work blow me out with some very good questions. She asked questions like, “If God is unconditional love, how could he let any of his children burn in eternal damnation? Why are their no women priests? Did you know the Catholic Church supports the pill? Why is it you have to go through the church to have a relationship with God?”
I was ill-prepared. I couldn’t answer. I wasn’t equipped to answer that barrage even after 12 years of Catholic schooling. Problem.
So, after that I pretty much went agnostic. I knew there was a God and I still talked with him, but Jesus eventually was reduced to a “good teacher” and that’s the way he stayed for over 20 years. To me, he became one of the master teachers the planet had seen. Yes, I believed in his resurrection. I believed in his miracles. I believed he was raised from the dead, but in my mind, we can do this too if we were to ever attain that spiritual height.
I don’t know how I had it all figured out my mind, but Jesus was not Lord.
I went through the Salvation Prayer. Where the Salvation Prayer says, “Jesus is Lord,” you take Jesus as your savior. You renounce all other paths, all other ways, and you zero in on Christ as that narrow gate through which you go.
It took a day or two for that to really sink in. I said the words the first night—and I meant it—but it was alien to me; the acceptance of Jesus Christ as God. I grew up around the Trinity, and I grew up around Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but somehow I hadn’t quite 100% agreed to it internally.
So I did the Salvation Prayer that night. Didn’t get the whoosh. There was no dramatic, “POW! You just entered some spiritual doorway.”
No woosh.
Yet there are experiences on YouTube where folks are talking about it, so I was feeling like, “Well, my guy had it. People on YouTube are having it. I didn’t get it. Hmm.”
Now, as it would just so happen, God had also placed another witness by me at my office. He’s a pastor, by trade. I went and talked with Tony. I said, “Tony, hey, have you ever had this salvation experience?” Tony said, “Yes.” (Everybody’s had this experience but me, apparently!)
Tony had a similar kind of story. Only instead of walking around with a really big grin on his face for a week and being filled with Christ’s love and affirmation, Tony was stricken by his sinful nature. He experienced that love, but a lot of his experience was anguish through the new awareness of his own sinful past. For the week after he answered an alter-call, he was wrecked emotionally. Sobbing every day, as he said.
So here I had two examples over the course of two days, and I still wasn’t getting the whoosh—the big emotional release. There was no spiritual release for me, so I did what you’re not supposed to do.
Now, I didn’t know this until it came to me later, but once you do the Salvation Prayer, you really should only do it once because—to do it two or three times like I did—it means you’re not having faith that God’s taken things over. You’ve renounced your past ways, you’ve confessed your sins, and you’ve given things over to Jesus, and now, you should be able to relax and rest for just a moment and let the Holy Spirit do his work. I wasn’t relaxing. Yeah, that’s not me, really, and I didn’t know that this was what I should’ve been doing.
Day two, I didn’t get my whoosh, but had received more validation that others have gotten the whoosh, and so I end up doing the Salvation Prayer again. I’m confessing more sins this time, and trying to give more of my heart, which that in and of itself is interesting. Through the past year’s meditation, I’ve been trying to remove myself, but bringing love—bringing myself up into a state of love for God—I was very weak at.
So day two comes and goes. No big whoosh. I’m a little crestfallen. I’m getting a little disappointed at this point. I’m like, “Lord, am I doing it right?”
The next day, Scott says, “Man, you should be… I’ve not really ran into a case where they haven’t had a big whoosh.” He said, “Well, maybe you need to witness to somebody else.” I said, “Alright, yeah, I’ll do that.” So I witnessed to a couple more people that day.
By the end of day three, I’m getting more resolve. I say, “Lord, I’m going to do this Salvation Prayer every day until you confirm that I’ve crossed over the door (that I’ve been accepted into the club essentially.)”
Right about then was when the message came to me (Did I read it? Or maybe Scott said something?) that you only say the Salvation Prayer once. The point is that you really need to have faith on the first pass and start diving into God’s Word, so I did more of that. I started diving into the Bible, which I had already started doing naturally.
Over the next couple weeks, I began to be consumed with a renewed starvation for God’s Word. I just needed to dig into the Bible more. I learned later the word is “regeneration.”
(By the way, by the third day I had renounced yoga. I had even renounced my Catholicism. I had renounced every other means possible where I had tried to climb the wall to God instead of going through the narrow gate of Jesus Christ.)
I didn’t get the whoosh, but it certainly was helping me get around to accepting the deity of Jesus Christ because that’s one place where I was super weak. I hadn’t done that yet. It was still a big question in my mind. I had spent so many years wondering if truly that was the case or if Jesus was human just like us and just had grown and evolved to the heights that he achieved. As I got deeper into God’s Word, I began accepting Jesus as the narrow gate, as the Lord and Savior, as the Triune God—not a created being, but as God.
Since then, things have been taking off, spiritually. I won’t go into everything here, but man, I’m on a track, kids. I’m on a track, and I’m looking forward to it. 2016 is going to be amazing. I’m already making plans to go out and start doing some street-side witnessing. That’s new to me. I’ve never done that before. I’ve never witnessed to anybody before, and now, I’m starting to do it on a weekly basis, and it’s really just me telling my story and sounding off where I’m at spiritually.
Yeah. This has been a big time for me, guys. I’ve got plenty more to talk about. I’m re-shifting my entire web practice to serve only Christian churches and faith-based organizations who point others towards God. If you don’t face others towards God, I’m not helping you with your web work anymore unless you are an existing client.
I can’t repay him enough. There’s nothing I can do. My best deeds are as filthy rags before of his holiness. There’s nothing I can do to repay him enough for the sacrifice of his son, Jesus Christ. There’s nothing I can do.
Hope this is helping somebody out there. Let me know. Sound off in the comments. More soon.
P.S. A couple weeks later I was sitting in church when I would have my question about my salvation experience answered. The pastor said that sometimes our salvation experiences are dramatic, yes, but oftentimes the experience is tender. Regardless of how God brings you in, you will know if you have genuinely converted if you enter a period of regeneration following your confession and commitment.
Ever heard of the Salvation Prayer? How do we become “saved” or “born again?” The answer starts here:
“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.” (Romans 10:9)
“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)
What is the Salvation Prayer?
We have all sinned and deserve God’s judgment. God, the Father, sent His only Son to satisfy that judgment for those who believe in Him. Jesus, the creator and eternal Son of God, who lived a sinless life, loves us so much that He died for our sins, taking the punishment that we deserve, was buried, and rose from the dead according to the Bible.
The Salvation Prayer is an important step along the road toward your rebirth in Jesus Christ. To be born again you must confess Jesus as Lord and believe that He is. When you ask Him into your heart, you are allowing Him to be the Lord of your life. Salvation takes place when we listen to the salvation message, believe it, renounce our sins and decide to receive Jesus into our hearts.
Salvation Prayer – 4 Simple Steps
Acknowledge in your heart that Jesus is Lord.
Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord.
Believe that Jesus died for your sins and was raised three days later.
Repent of your sins and get baptized in the name of Jesus.
Salvation Prayer – An Example
The Salvation Prayer is not a ritual based on specific words. This is not the power of a prayer, but the power of truly committing our lives to Christ as Savior and Lord. The following is merely a guideline for our sincere step of faith:
“God, I recognize that I have not lived my life for You up until now. I have been living for myself and that is wrong. I need You in my life; I want You in my life. I acknowledge the completed work of Your Son Jesus Christ in giving His life for me on the cross at Calvary, and I long to receive the forgiveness you have made freely available to me through this sacrifice. Come into my life now, Lord. Take up residence in my heart and be my king, my Lord, and my Savior. From this day forward, I will no longer be controlled by sin, or the desire to please myself, but I will follow You all the days of my life. Those days are in Your hands. I ask this in Jesus’ precious and holy name. Amen.”
If you decided to repent of your sins and receive Christ today, welcome to God’s family. Now, as a way to grow closer to Him, the Bible tells us to follow up on our commitment.
Get baptized as commanded by Christ.
Tell someone else about your new faith in Christ.
Spend time with God each day. It does not have to be a long period of time. Just develop the daily habit of praying to Him and reading His Word. Ask God to increase your faith and your understanding of the Bible.
Seek fellowship with other followers of Jesus. Develop a group of believing friends to answer your questions and support you.
Find a local church where you can worship God.
What Do You Think?
Different people will have different experiences upon the heart-felt completion of this prayer. If you’ve truly come to the end of yourselves, you may experience a deeply emotional impact after saying this prayer. I know folks who have felt elated, as if the weight of the world was taken off them all at once. I know others who have been so broken by realizing the gravity of their sinful pasts, they’ve gone into an emotional meltdown for a week following their moment. These are what we consider dramatic salvation experiences.
My salvation experience was not dramatic. In fact, I didn’t feel anything. Then I did what you’re not supposed to do; I said the prayer again the next day–and the next day after that. Let me correct that notion now: You only say the Salvation Prayer once and you trust that the Holy Spirit has begun your regeneration as a child in Christ. What I did experience following the Salvation Prayer was a renewed starvation for God’s Word. I began to dive into Scripture more than I already had been. I was physically repelled from the living room during a violent television show. There were other signs as well, but know there are two ways you may have a salvation experience: dramatic or tender. I received the tender experience. What about you?
Would you be willing to share your own salvation experience? Leave a comment below!
References
This post was largely copied from http://www.allaboutgod.com/salvation-prayer.htm so the All About GOD Ministries team gets all the credit for this one. I took liberty with some editing to tighten things up, but left the original prayer and directions intact. I wanted a copy here at the Levaire site in case they should ever pull their site down. Want to learn more about their ministry? Check them out!
Okay, wow. It’s been a couple months. Where do I start? It has been such an amazing journey at this point. I would say I can’t even tell you, but I’m going to try to do it anyways.
So..
There’s this weight bench, right? It’s kind of a big thing.. pulleys.. and it’s got 200 lbs worth of plates over here.. you’ve got the bench press.. you’ve got a leg press. It’s one BIG unit. It’s been down in our basement. Well, we had our basement flood last summer. That ended up with us getting all new flooring, all across the entire basement which was—thank you Lord—that was fantastic. It was a little bit of work on our part, little bit of money on our part, but essentially, we got our basement re-floored and painted.
Wonderful. A blessing, truly.
As all of that was happening, we ended up trying to get rid of this weight bench. I hadn’t used it in over a year (since I began my meditation practice, really, and then I was doing free-weights prior to that.) The thing sat there in the basement, in pieces, for months. I had put out a couple ads on Craigslist, and—nothing.
It wasn’t moving.
I would get phone calls. They’d say, “Oh yeah, it sounds great.” If I was lucky enough I would get a phone call again, and they would say, “Well no, I’m not going to come out. Thanks, I’ve found another one cheaper,” or whatever. I had dropped the price already, which I thought was pretty reasonable. This bench was a $700-$800 unit, retail. I was selling it for $100 bucks. Finally—after some time—my wife says, “Why don’t I see if I can run it through my channels, and maybe we can still get rid of it?” I said, “Great, go ahead.”
Sure enough, we get somebody who wants to buy the bench for her husband. We make arrangements for them to come pick it up. Just an interesting side-note, these people go to our same church on Sundays. That was kind of a weird coincidence. (But, we don’t believe in coincidences, right?)
So they come over, and as they’re hauling it away there’s a concern that maybe they don’t have all of the pieces, or maybe when they do get it home they won’t be able to get it all set up properly. I’m like, “Alright, well, absolutely. Here’s my number. If you can not get it set up properly, give me a call. I’ll come out to your place (a 20 to 25 minute drive) and I will help you put it together.”
A couple days go by. I finally get the text saying, “Yeah, I think there are bolts missing.” I’m like, “All right. Where are the bolts missing?” The husband described the place that we thought maybe bolts were missing. I looked up the operations manual, found the size of the bolts, went to Home Depot, bought the bolts, and then coordinated with him to drive out during a weekday, and help him put this thing together.
In the process of all that I had given him a call at one point. His voicemail said, “Hey, this is Scott, and oh, by the way, this is also the home of Inner City Ministries.” I said, “Well, that’s kind of interesting. I like to talk about God. I’ll file that away. Maybe I’ll ask him about it.”
I’m out at his place now. We’re in his pole barn, setting up this weight-bench. We’re just talking chit-chat. He’s very personable. I ask him, “So, what’s Inner City Ministries about? What’s this ministry thing I heard on your voicemail?” We start talking. He’s telling me that he goes out into the street and witnesses to others about Jesus Christ. I’m like, “Wow, that’s great. That’s awesome. I love that.”
He turns the table then, and asks me where I’m at spiritually. I said, “Yeah, I’ve been going through this spiritual awakening lately. I’m reading things like John Main and doing some Eastern meditation.. reading some St. Teresa of Avila..” and he goes, “What? St. Teresa? You’re the only Christian that I’ve heard of who’s even heard of St. Teresa. What do you know?” I said, “Oh, I love her stuff talking about contemplative prayer, the seven mansions of the spirit, and just that evolution towards God, and going within.” He’s says, “Yeah, that’s right, that’s it.”
What ends up happening next? We have this great sharing of spiritual journeys, and he’s got an amazing story. I’ll let him tell it at some point in the future. I’m not going to steal that thunder.
(It was funny though. I had the suspicion on the drive out to his place like, “Lord, I don’t know, but wouldn’t it be interesting if this guy turns out to be a lifelong friend?” It was an odd thought that crossed the mental landscape and away it went.)
So, by the time we got done talking, both of us had gotten near tears once or twice. It was just an amazing, amazing experience. I drove away shaking because of the evidence of God in my life during that conversation. It was wonderful. I just thought, “Wow God, you are the Great Orchestrator. The way that weight bench sat in my basement for so long, and then finally moved with this family. The issues, and the voice mail, and just the layers of things that had to stack up on top of each other—the thin threads that led me to having this conversation. It’s just amazing.”
It was amazing to me.
Oh, but there’s more. I’m going to stop here though. I have more to tell you about. This story gets even deeper. In my next post, I’ll be talking about regeneration, salvation—all sorts of stuff—you know, like renouncing yoga. Stay tuned.
