God bless you.
The bible tells us to encourage one another and I not only want to encourage you but I have a responsibility to do so. You have had many replies already
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Im so confused
- Thread starter Countryangel707
- Start date
The bible tells us to encourage one another and I not only want to encourage you but I have a responsibility to do so. You have had many replies already
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( Sorry, my keyboard stopped responding, so I'll continue. ) and I don't want to add to any confusion. You pray everyday, don't stop. Remember Jesus nearest disciples said, Lord teach us how to pray. God knows you're there, after all he made you and all of us and everything not only in the universe but everything that is. Jeremiah went through a hard time for a long time, but he drew consolation from his God and burst out, Ah Lord God you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power. You have made the heavens and the earth by your outstretched arm. ( consequently ) Nothing is too difficult for you! Jesus said, All things are possible for God. - and not my will but thine be done. I find what his will for me is by reading my bible daily and I find that He is developing a relationship with me because " I am putting on the renewed mind, thinking more as he thinks. I'm in my 70s and I'm still changing so you mustn't give up.
As I write this, the song, Ah Lord God, is in my mind. Maybe you could find and sing it to yourself. Let me know if I can encourage you further.
David
As I write this, the song, Ah Lord God, is in my mind. Maybe you could find and sing it to yourself. Let me know if I can encourage you further.
David
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I heard recently on a Christian radio station a preacher talking about the true meaning of what it is to believe. He said that the Biblical belief means to see Jesus as a savior. I do see Jesus as a savior. Does that mean I am saves? I have notice with certain sins I still do them even though I know that they are wrong. I have heard that a Christian can't do that.
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Countryangel707, Yes, we do need to see Jesus as "THE ONE and ONLY SAVIOR" not just a savior.
It is good you see that you are a sinner, as we all are, and we all need Jesus as Savior. You have to then accept Him as YOUR SAVIOR. Not just have knowledge that He calls Himself a savior. For many persons throughout history, and still in these days, call themselves saviors. If you don't know Jesus, it is more difficult to then give charge of your life to someone you don't know. Our primary way of knowing Jesus is through reading about Him. However we also see Him by the Holy Spirit that points to Him. And we see Jesus in people,
nature and circumstances.
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Well how do I truly accept Him? How do I know that I have truly accepted Him?
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Here is a story you will enjoy...
"Grandfather was kind to me and considerate of me, yet he was strict with me. I worked along with him in the field when the weather was agreeable and when it was inclement I helped him in his hatter's shop, for the Civil War was in progress and he had returned at odd times to hatmaking. It was my business in the shop to stretch foxskins and coonskins across a wood-horse and with a knife, made for that purpose, pluck the hair from the fur. I despise the odor of foxskins and coonskins to this good day. He had me to walk two miles every Sunday to Dandridge to Church service and Sunday-school, rain or shine, wet or dry, cold or hot; yet he had fat horses standing in his stable. But he was such a blue-stocking Presbyterian that he never allowed a bridle to go on a horse's head on Sunday. The beasts had to have a day of rest. Old Doctor Minnis was the pastor, and he was the dryest and most interminable preacher I ever heard in my life. He would stand motionless and read his sermons from manuscript for one hour and a half at a time and sometimes longer. Grandfather would sit and never take his eyes off of him, except to glance at me to keep me quiet. It was torture to me." - George Clark Rankin
Then he got it good in the Methodist church in Georgia...
...Quote...
After the team had been fed and we had been to supper we put the mules to the wagon, filled it with chairs and we were off to the meeting. When we reached the locality it was about dark and the people were assembling. Their horses and wagons filled up the cleared spaces and the singing was already in progress. My uncle and his family went well up toward the front, but I dropped into a seat well to the rear. It was an old-fashioned Church, ancient in appearance, oblong in shape and unpretentious. It was situated in a grove about one hundred yards from the road. It was lighted with old tallow-dip candles furnished by the neighbors. It was not a prepossessing-looking place, but it was soon crowded and evidently there was a great deal of interest. A cadaverous-looking man stood up in front with a tuning fork and raised and led the songs. There were a few prayers and the minister came in with his saddlebags and entered the pulpit. He was the Rev. W. H. Heath, the circuit rider. His prayer impressed me with his earnestness and there were many amens to it in the audience. I do not remember his text, but it was a typical revival sermon, full of unction and power.
At its close he invited penitents to the altar and a great many young people flocked to it and bowed for prayer. Many of them became very much affected and they cried out distressingly for mercy. It had a strange effect on me. It made me nervous and I wanted to retire. Directly my uncle came back to me, put his arm around my shoulder and asked me if I did not want to be religious. I told him that I had always had that desire, that mother had brought me up that way, and really I did not know anything else. Then he wanted to know if I had ever professed religion. I hardly understood what he meant and did not answer him. He changed his question and asked me if I had ever been to the altar for prayer, and I answered him in the negative. Then he earnestly besought me to let him take me up to the altar and join the others in being prayed for. It really embarrassed me and I hardly knew what to say to him. He spoke to me of my mother and said that when she was a little girl she went to the altar and that Christ accepted her and she had been a good Christian all these years. That touched me in a tender spot, for mother always did do what was right; and then I was far away from her and wanted to see her. Oh, if she were there to tell me what to do!
By and by I yielded to his entreaty and he led forward to the altar. The minister took me by the hand and spoke tenderly to me as I knelt at the altar. I had gone more out of sympathy than conviction, and I did not know what to do after I bowed there. The others were praying aloud and now and then one would rise shoutingly happy and make the old building ring with his glad praise. It was a novel experience to me. I did not know what to pray for, neither did I know what to expect if I did pray. I spent the most of the hour wondering why I was there and what it all meant. No one explained anything to me. Once in awhile some good old brother or sister would pass my way, strike me on the back and tell me to look up and believe and the blessing would come. But that was not encouraging to me. In fact, it sounded like nonsense and the noise was distracting me. Even in my crude way of thinking I had an idea that religion was a sensible thing and that people ought to become religious intelligently and without all that hurrah. I presume that my ideas were the result of the Presbyterian training given to me by old grandfather. By and by my knees grew tired and the skin was nearly rubbed off my elbows. I thought the service never would close, and when it did conclude with the benediction I heaved a sigh of relief. That was my first experience at the mourner's bench.
As we drove home I did not have much to say, but I listened attentively to the conversation between my uncle and his wife. They were greatly impressed with the meeting, and they spoke first of this one and that one who had "come through" and what a change it would make in the community, as many of them were bad boys. As we were putting up the team my uncle spoke very encouragingly to me; he was delighted with the step I had taken and he pleaded with me not to turn back, but to press on until I found the pearl of great price. He knew my mother would be very happy over the start I had made. Before going to sleep I fell into a train of thought, though I was tired and exhausted. I wondered why I had gone to that altar and what I had gained by it. I felt no special conviction and had received no special impression, but then if my mother had started that way there must be something in it, for she always did what was right. I silently lifted my heart to God in prayer for conviction and guidance. I knew how to pray, for I had come up through prayer, but not the mourner's bench sort. So I determined to continue to attend the meeting and keep on going to the altar until I got religion.
Early the next morning I was up and in a serious frame of mind. I went with the other hands to the cottonfield and at noon I slipped off in the barn and prayed. But the more I thought of the way those young people were moved in the meeting and with what glad hearts they had shouted their praises to God the more it puzzled and confused me. I could not feel the conviction that they had and my heart did not feel melted and tender. I was callous and unmoved in feeling and my distress on account of sin was nothing like theirs. I did not understand my own state of mind and heart. It troubled me, for by this time I really wanted to have an experience like theirs.
When evening came I was ready for Church service and was glad to go. It required no urging. Another large crowd was present and the preacher was as earnest as ever. I did not give much heed to the sermon. In fact, I do not recall a word of it. I was anxious for him to conclude and give me a chance to go to the altar. I had gotten it into my head that there was some real virtue in the mourner's bench; and when the time came I was one of the first to prostrate myself before the altar in prayer. Many others did likewise. Two or three good people at intervals knelt by me and spoke encouragingly to me, but they did not help me. Their talks were mere exhortations to earnestness and faith, but there was no explanation of faith, neither was there any light thrown upon my mind and heart. I wrought myself up into tears and cries for help, but the whole situation was dark and I hardly knew why I cried, or what was the trouble with me. Now and then others would arise from the altar in an ecstasy of joy, but there was no joy for me. When the service closed I was discouraged and felt that maybe I was too hardhearted and the good Spirit could do nothing for me.
After we went home I tossed on the bed before going to sleep and wondered why God did not do for me what he had done for mother and what he was doing in that meeting for those young people at the altar. I could not understand it. But I resolved to keep on trying, and so dropped off to sleep. The next day I had about the same experience and at night saw no change in my condition. And so for several nights I repeated the same distressing experience. The meeting took on such interest that a day service was adopted along with the night exercises, and we attended that also. And one morning while I bowed at the altar in a very disturbed state of mind Brother Tyson, a good local preacher and the father of Rev. J. F. Tyson, now of the Central Conference, sat down by me and, putting his hand on my shoulder, said to me: "Now I want you to sit up awhile and let's talk this matter over quietly. I am sure that you are in earnest, for you have been coming to this altar night after night for several days. I want to ask you a few simple questions." And the following questions were asked and answered:
"My son, do you not love God?"
"I cannot remember when I did not love him."
"Do you believe on his Son, Jesus Christ?"
"I have always believed on Christ. My mother taught me that from my earliest recollection."
"Do you accept him as your Savior?"
"I certainly do, and have always done so."
"Can you think of any sin that is between you and the Savior?"
"No, sir; for I have never committed any bad sins."
"Do you love everybody?"
"Well, I love nearly everybody, but I have no ill-will toward any one. An old man did me a wrong not long ago and I acted ugly toward him, but I do not care to injure him."
"Can you forgive him?"
"Yes, if he wanted me to."
"But, down in your heart, can you wish him well?"
"Yes, sir; I can do that."
"Well, now let me say to you that if you love God, if you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior from sin and if you love your fellowmen and intend by God's help to lead a religious life, that's all there is to religion. In fact, that is all I know about it."
Then he repeated several passages of Scriptures to me proving his assertions. I thought a moment and said to him: "But I do not feel like these young people who have been getting religion night after night. I cannot get happy like them. I do not feel like shouting."
The good man looked at me and smiled and said: "Ah, that's your trouble. You have been trying to feel like them. Now you are not them; you are yourself. You have your own quiet disposition and you are not turned like them. They are excitable and blustery like they are. They give way to their feelings. That's all right, but feeling is not religion. Religion is faith and life. If you have violent feeling with it, all good and well, but if you have faith and not much feeling, why the feeling will take care of itself. To love God and accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, turning away from all sin, and living a godly life, is the substance of true religion."
That was new to me, yet it had been my state of mind from childhood. For I remembered that away back in my early life, when the old preacher held services in my grandmother's house one day and opened the door of the Church, I went forward and gave him my hand. He was to receive me into full membership at the end of six months' probation, but he let it pass out of his mind and failed to attend to it.
As I sat there that morning listening to the earnest exhortation of the good man my tears ceased, my distress left me, light broke in upon my mind, my heart grew joyous, and before I knew just what I was doing I was going all around shaking hands with everybody, and my confusion and darkness disappeared and a great burden rolled off my spirit. I felt exactly like I did when I was a little boy around my mother's knee when she told of Jesus and God and Heaven. It made my heart thrill then, and the same old experience returned to me in that old country Church that beautiful September morning down in old North Georgia.
I at once gave my name to the preacher for membership in the Church, and the following Sunday morning, along with many others, he received me into full membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. It was one of the most delightful days in my recollection. It was the third Sunday in September, 1866, and those Church vows became a living principle in my heart and life. During these forty-five long years, with their alternations of sunshine and shadow, daylight and darkness, success and failure, rejoicing and weeping, fears within and fightings without, I have never ceased to thank God for that autumnal day in the long ago when my name was registered in the Lamb's Book of Life.
"Grandfather was kind to me and considerate of me, yet he was strict with me. I worked along with him in the field when the weather was agreeable and when it was inclement I helped him in his hatter's shop, for the Civil War was in progress and he had returned at odd times to hatmaking. It was my business in the shop to stretch foxskins and coonskins across a wood-horse and with a knife, made for that purpose, pluck the hair from the fur. I despise the odor of foxskins and coonskins to this good day. He had me to walk two miles every Sunday to Dandridge to Church service and Sunday-school, rain or shine, wet or dry, cold or hot; yet he had fat horses standing in his stable. But he was such a blue-stocking Presbyterian that he never allowed a bridle to go on a horse's head on Sunday. The beasts had to have a day of rest. Old Doctor Minnis was the pastor, and he was the dryest and most interminable preacher I ever heard in my life. He would stand motionless and read his sermons from manuscript for one hour and a half at a time and sometimes longer. Grandfather would sit and never take his eyes off of him, except to glance at me to keep me quiet. It was torture to me." - George Clark Rankin
Then he got it good in the Methodist church in Georgia...
...Quote...
After the team had been fed and we had been to supper we put the mules to the wagon, filled it with chairs and we were off to the meeting. When we reached the locality it was about dark and the people were assembling. Their horses and wagons filled up the cleared spaces and the singing was already in progress. My uncle and his family went well up toward the front, but I dropped into a seat well to the rear. It was an old-fashioned Church, ancient in appearance, oblong in shape and unpretentious. It was situated in a grove about one hundred yards from the road. It was lighted with old tallow-dip candles furnished by the neighbors. It was not a prepossessing-looking place, but it was soon crowded and evidently there was a great deal of interest. A cadaverous-looking man stood up in front with a tuning fork and raised and led the songs. There were a few prayers and the minister came in with his saddlebags and entered the pulpit. He was the Rev. W. H. Heath, the circuit rider. His prayer impressed me with his earnestness and there were many amens to it in the audience. I do not remember his text, but it was a typical revival sermon, full of unction and power.
At its close he invited penitents to the altar and a great many young people flocked to it and bowed for prayer. Many of them became very much affected and they cried out distressingly for mercy. It had a strange effect on me. It made me nervous and I wanted to retire. Directly my uncle came back to me, put his arm around my shoulder and asked me if I did not want to be religious. I told him that I had always had that desire, that mother had brought me up that way, and really I did not know anything else. Then he wanted to know if I had ever professed religion. I hardly understood what he meant and did not answer him. He changed his question and asked me if I had ever been to the altar for prayer, and I answered him in the negative. Then he earnestly besought me to let him take me up to the altar and join the others in being prayed for. It really embarrassed me and I hardly knew what to say to him. He spoke to me of my mother and said that when she was a little girl she went to the altar and that Christ accepted her and she had been a good Christian all these years. That touched me in a tender spot, for mother always did do what was right; and then I was far away from her and wanted to see her. Oh, if she were there to tell me what to do!
By and by I yielded to his entreaty and he led forward to the altar. The minister took me by the hand and spoke tenderly to me as I knelt at the altar. I had gone more out of sympathy than conviction, and I did not know what to do after I bowed there. The others were praying aloud and now and then one would rise shoutingly happy and make the old building ring with his glad praise. It was a novel experience to me. I did not know what to pray for, neither did I know what to expect if I did pray. I spent the most of the hour wondering why I was there and what it all meant. No one explained anything to me. Once in awhile some good old brother or sister would pass my way, strike me on the back and tell me to look up and believe and the blessing would come. But that was not encouraging to me. In fact, it sounded like nonsense and the noise was distracting me. Even in my crude way of thinking I had an idea that religion was a sensible thing and that people ought to become religious intelligently and without all that hurrah. I presume that my ideas were the result of the Presbyterian training given to me by old grandfather. By and by my knees grew tired and the skin was nearly rubbed off my elbows. I thought the service never would close, and when it did conclude with the benediction I heaved a sigh of relief. That was my first experience at the mourner's bench.
As we drove home I did not have much to say, but I listened attentively to the conversation between my uncle and his wife. They were greatly impressed with the meeting, and they spoke first of this one and that one who had "come through" and what a change it would make in the community, as many of them were bad boys. As we were putting up the team my uncle spoke very encouragingly to me; he was delighted with the step I had taken and he pleaded with me not to turn back, but to press on until I found the pearl of great price. He knew my mother would be very happy over the start I had made. Before going to sleep I fell into a train of thought, though I was tired and exhausted. I wondered why I had gone to that altar and what I had gained by it. I felt no special conviction and had received no special impression, but then if my mother had started that way there must be something in it, for she always did what was right. I silently lifted my heart to God in prayer for conviction and guidance. I knew how to pray, for I had come up through prayer, but not the mourner's bench sort. So I determined to continue to attend the meeting and keep on going to the altar until I got religion.
Early the next morning I was up and in a serious frame of mind. I went with the other hands to the cottonfield and at noon I slipped off in the barn and prayed. But the more I thought of the way those young people were moved in the meeting and with what glad hearts they had shouted their praises to God the more it puzzled and confused me. I could not feel the conviction that they had and my heart did not feel melted and tender. I was callous and unmoved in feeling and my distress on account of sin was nothing like theirs. I did not understand my own state of mind and heart. It troubled me, for by this time I really wanted to have an experience like theirs.
When evening came I was ready for Church service and was glad to go. It required no urging. Another large crowd was present and the preacher was as earnest as ever. I did not give much heed to the sermon. In fact, I do not recall a word of it. I was anxious for him to conclude and give me a chance to go to the altar. I had gotten it into my head that there was some real virtue in the mourner's bench; and when the time came I was one of the first to prostrate myself before the altar in prayer. Many others did likewise. Two or three good people at intervals knelt by me and spoke encouragingly to me, but they did not help me. Their talks were mere exhortations to earnestness and faith, but there was no explanation of faith, neither was there any light thrown upon my mind and heart. I wrought myself up into tears and cries for help, but the whole situation was dark and I hardly knew why I cried, or what was the trouble with me. Now and then others would arise from the altar in an ecstasy of joy, but there was no joy for me. When the service closed I was discouraged and felt that maybe I was too hardhearted and the good Spirit could do nothing for me.
After we went home I tossed on the bed before going to sleep and wondered why God did not do for me what he had done for mother and what he was doing in that meeting for those young people at the altar. I could not understand it. But I resolved to keep on trying, and so dropped off to sleep. The next day I had about the same experience and at night saw no change in my condition. And so for several nights I repeated the same distressing experience. The meeting took on such interest that a day service was adopted along with the night exercises, and we attended that also. And one morning while I bowed at the altar in a very disturbed state of mind Brother Tyson, a good local preacher and the father of Rev. J. F. Tyson, now of the Central Conference, sat down by me and, putting his hand on my shoulder, said to me: "Now I want you to sit up awhile and let's talk this matter over quietly. I am sure that you are in earnest, for you have been coming to this altar night after night for several days. I want to ask you a few simple questions." And the following questions were asked and answered:
"My son, do you not love God?"
"I cannot remember when I did not love him."
"Do you believe on his Son, Jesus Christ?"
"I have always believed on Christ. My mother taught me that from my earliest recollection."
"Do you accept him as your Savior?"
"I certainly do, and have always done so."
"Can you think of any sin that is between you and the Savior?"
"No, sir; for I have never committed any bad sins."
"Do you love everybody?"
"Well, I love nearly everybody, but I have no ill-will toward any one. An old man did me a wrong not long ago and I acted ugly toward him, but I do not care to injure him."
"Can you forgive him?"
"Yes, if he wanted me to."
"But, down in your heart, can you wish him well?"
"Yes, sir; I can do that."
"Well, now let me say to you that if you love God, if you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior from sin and if you love your fellowmen and intend by God's help to lead a religious life, that's all there is to religion. In fact, that is all I know about it."
Then he repeated several passages of Scriptures to me proving his assertions. I thought a moment and said to him: "But I do not feel like these young people who have been getting religion night after night. I cannot get happy like them. I do not feel like shouting."
The good man looked at me and smiled and said: "Ah, that's your trouble. You have been trying to feel like them. Now you are not them; you are yourself. You have your own quiet disposition and you are not turned like them. They are excitable and blustery like they are. They give way to their feelings. That's all right, but feeling is not religion. Religion is faith and life. If you have violent feeling with it, all good and well, but if you have faith and not much feeling, why the feeling will take care of itself. To love God and accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, turning away from all sin, and living a godly life, is the substance of true religion."
That was new to me, yet it had been my state of mind from childhood. For I remembered that away back in my early life, when the old preacher held services in my grandmother's house one day and opened the door of the Church, I went forward and gave him my hand. He was to receive me into full membership at the end of six months' probation, but he let it pass out of his mind and failed to attend to it.
As I sat there that morning listening to the earnest exhortation of the good man my tears ceased, my distress left me, light broke in upon my mind, my heart grew joyous, and before I knew just what I was doing I was going all around shaking hands with everybody, and my confusion and darkness disappeared and a great burden rolled off my spirit. I felt exactly like I did when I was a little boy around my mother's knee when she told of Jesus and God and Heaven. It made my heart thrill then, and the same old experience returned to me in that old country Church that beautiful September morning down in old North Georgia.
I at once gave my name to the preacher for membership in the Church, and the following Sunday morning, along with many others, he received me into full membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. It was one of the most delightful days in my recollection. It was the third Sunday in September, 1866, and those Church vows became a living principle in my heart and life. During these forty-five long years, with their alternations of sunshine and shadow, daylight and darkness, success and failure, rejoicing and weeping, fears within and fightings without, I have never ceased to thank God for that autumnal day in the long ago when my name was registered in the Lamb's Book of Life.
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Wow that is a great story. It is very encouraging. Thank you for taking the time to share it with me
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Hi,
To say that 'deep inside', you know that Jesus did die and was resurrected, cannot be your truth unless The Holy Spirit has personally told you that is true.
Only believing in Jesus, is totally enough for you to be okay with God.
Do, you understand why now?
Faith is gift from God, we don't earn it.
Saying "...deep down" says to me your actual understanding is profound.
In order to say that, God has called you to find Him, and has given you that faith item, means:
YOU IN GIRL. YOU SAVED GAL.
Now, to me you are so precious as you are the first person to have that, just that.
I used to call that the minimum requirement for God. It's actually not, merely being just and rightious is, where those two words mean the same thing.
I did not know that when I first learned about God, bring Real. Prior to that there was no way to say "Deep down..." In my life.
So, those words prove to me that you are a Christian.
Those words, should prove you are to other Christians also.
LOVE,
Last edited:
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dhh712
Mrs. Calvinist Dark Lord
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It's okay. I don't think many of us do know how to give it all to Jesus especially when we're first converted. However, please try as best you can to utilize the means of grace so that your relationship with Jesus can become more a part of your life. The ones that I know of are: prayer, reading the Bible, fellowship at church and taking part in the sacraments (such as the Lord's Supper and baptism).
I think the more you engage in some or all of these things the more you will find yourself wanting to give more to Jesus. Please let me emphasize that it's not the means of salvation! It's just that the more time you spend with God the more you will become like him (for each person this will vary in the time it takes and how much change there is) through sanctification by the Spirit.
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Dear Countryangel1707. In Matthew 22: 35-40: Jesus tells us: " The first and great Commandment is: Love God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. The second is like it: love thy neighbour as thyself." In verse 40
it tells us: " On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." God is Love, and God wants loving sons and daughters. In Matthew 7: 7-10: we are told: " Ask and you shall receive," we ask for Love and Joy, then thank God and share all love and joy with our neighbour. (neighbour is all we know and all we meet, friends and not friends) We keep sharing all love and joy with our neighbour. God sees our loving efforts, and God will bless us.
We might stumble and forget, then ask God to forgive us, and carry on loving and caring, and always be friendly.
The Bible tells us: " Repent and be Born Again," we give up all our selfish desires and wishes, and start loving and caring. The Holy Spirit will help and guide us, and Jesus our Saviour will lead us all the way: JESUS IS THE WAY.
A Christian`s weapon is Love and Compassion, we can overcome all envy and bad behaviour, and people will start treating us the same. Love is very catching, and love will overcame all opposition. Satan and his followers will flee and leave us, and you will be free from satanic interference.
Jesus died that we might live, and I say this with all my heart. Greetings from Emmy, your sister in Christ.
it tells us: " On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." God is Love, and God wants loving sons and daughters. In Matthew 7: 7-10: we are told: " Ask and you shall receive," we ask for Love and Joy, then thank God and share all love and joy with our neighbour. (neighbour is all we know and all we meet, friends and not friends) We keep sharing all love and joy with our neighbour. God sees our loving efforts, and God will bless us.
We might stumble and forget, then ask God to forgive us, and carry on loving and caring, and always be friendly.
The Bible tells us: " Repent and be Born Again," we give up all our selfish desires and wishes, and start loving and caring. The Holy Spirit will help and guide us, and Jesus our Saviour will lead us all the way: JESUS IS THE WAY.
A Christian`s weapon is Love and Compassion, we can overcome all envy and bad behaviour, and people will start treating us the same. Love is very catching, and love will overcame all opposition. Satan and his followers will flee and leave us, and you will be free from satanic interference.
Jesus died that we might live, and I say this with all my heart. Greetings from Emmy, your sister in Christ.
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Romans 10:9-10 (NLT),
9 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.
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Countryangle, many years ago I asked that same question. I was living a life of misery because I wasn't sure if I really believed in Jesus. It was a horrible time in my life in which I lived in dreadful fear of dying and going to hell. I was raised in a Baptist church and had heard about sin, hell, Jesus & the cross just about every Sunday, but for some reason I missed something. I just could not find a settled peace about believing in Jesus. I did not understand how just saying a prayer "in Jesus' name" would save someone.
When I became an adult I got out of church and forgot about God & Jesus. I was all caught up in my career & starting a family. But soon the fear & doubts returned and my life again became one of misery & uncertainty. I searched for answers by talking to the preacher at our church, I read books & salvation tracts written by well known Christian authors. (This was before the internet) I could not find any answers to my questions about "believing in Jesus." I found myself saying the sinners' prayer over & over begging God to save me. I confessed my sin publicly and made several professions of faith in church. I promised to serve God, to follow Jesus, I committed my life to Jesus. I would find some peace for awhile, but soon the doubts & fears would return. I had no assurance of salvation. I was confused & miserable. I had no peace.
While I was searching for answers there is one place I never thought of to look for answers, the Bible, until I heard a preacher say that if anyone wanted to know about Jesus they should read the Gospel of John. One night as I lay down to try to get some sleep, I just gave up on all the things I was doing and looked up at the ceiling and said a simple prayer to a God who I really wasn't sure existed; I said "God, will you show me the truth about believing in Jesus?" I went to sleep and slept better than I had slept in a long time.
The next day I went to my college classes then came home and worked on a research paper for one of those classes. Late that evening my wife went to bed and I stayed up to work on the paper, but something inside me told me to get the big family bible, that we never read, and read the Gospel of John. I put up the old noisy Royal typewriter and my papers, got the bible and opened it to John chapter 1. I had never before read in the bible except when in church and I really did not pay much attention to whatever we were reading. But, this time as I began to read I noticed that something was different about the words I was reading. It was as though something was enabling me to understand the bible. As I continued to read about Jesus I began to notice that He kept saying that people should believe in Him for eternal life, and I especially noticed that several times He said that we should come to Him and believe in Him. I was still not sure about the believing part but the verses that said we should come to Him really got my attention.
That night the Holy Spirit was showing me the very truth of God's Word that I needed to know so I would really "believe" in Jesus. The Holy Spirit completely convinced me that Jesus was/is the Son of God who became a man and died on the cross to pay for my sins, and that His finished work on the cross was all that God required for my sins to be forgiven. Also, He convinced me that to believe in Jesus means to trust Him to do what He said He would do for anyone who will come to Him to receive forgiveness and eternal life. I realized that the Holy Spirit was drawing me to Jesus and He convinced me that Jesus was waiting for me to come to Him as though He was right there in the room with me. The "believing" part was the convincing of the Holy Spirit, and that was the part that I had missed all those years when I was trying to work up some sense of faith by saying a prayer or by making some kind of promise to God. The moment the Holy Spirit convinced me that Jesus was waiting for me to come to Him and that He wanted to forgive me just as much as I wanted Him to forgive me was the moment my faith transferred from myself to Jesus. That was "saving faith" for me. Finally I knew the meaning of "believing in Jesus." Almost 40 years have passed since that night, and I still have complete assurance of salvation & a peace that is impossible to explain to someone who has never experienced it for themselves.There is more that could be said about the matter but it is very simple to believe, instead of trusting in the things "I" was doing to get God to save me He wanted me to trust in what Jesus had already done, and the important thing is to trust Him to do what He said He will do for anyone who will come to Him for forgiveness & for a new life.
If you want to come to Him that means the Holy Spirit is drawing you to Him. Come to Him with the attitude that you are convinced He will not turn you away. That is His promise in John 6:37.
John
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Mediakira
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Being with God is wonderful! And being with the Jesus Christ is wonderful too! When you are with in the surrender of being with God you began to see the best God has to offer! The more you pray and the more you rely on God first you began to see the Wonders that God does! God is the Artist and loves to be with the people He makes. He hasn't left you. He hold you Higher then ever. He loves you and doesn't wish to hurt you. Once you get closer to God just by praying or just talk to Him. You'll see that your going to Heaven. Fearing God is like facing an Artist you made you, plus He's The Heavenly Father! And He made Himself The Almighty King! He has the authority to do whatever He wants to do with you. So, just being good, God will not harm you or forsake you! And He the Almighty Father, He declared you as His child!
God showed me Himself in the Hospital two years ago I think. He gave the burning bush techinque. He made a light bulb and turn it into fire in the air.
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