
Guess what? God loves you and wants to have a
personal relationship with you forever.
Your heavenly Father also has a special plan for
your life. He gives us this promise in the Old
Testament book of Jeremiah, chapter 29 verse 11:
“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the
LORD, ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster,
to give you a future and a hope.’” God created you
to have a relationship with Him. He wants you to
grow close to Him now and spend forever with Him in
heaven after you die.
But one thing separates us from a relationship with
God … sin. If you’ve ever done something wrong, then
you know about sin. Sin is disobeying God and the
Bible says in Romans
3:23: “For all [that means us!] have sinned; all
fall short of God’s glorious standard.”
Romans 6:23 explains that the punishment for sin
is death—separation from God in hell forever. No
matter how hard we try, we can’t save ourselves. We
can’t earn our way to heaven by being good, going to
church, or getting baptized. That’s the bad news.
But don’t worry! God loves us so much that He sent
his only son, Jesus, to earth. Jesus lived a
perfect, sinless life and then died on the cross to
take the punishment for our sins (Romans
5:8). Three days later, He came back to life and
now He lives in heaven.
In John
14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No one can come to the Father except
through Me.” To reach God and live in heaven after
you die, you must accept Je
us
as your personal Savior and Lord.
To
accept Jesus as your Savior, simply talk to God and
admit that you are a sinner, believe that Jesus died
for your sins and was raised from the dead, and give
Him control of your life.
Here is an example of a prayer that will help you
know what to say:
Dear
God, I know that I’m a sinner and that my sin
separates me from You. I realize that I can’t do
anything to earn my way into heaven. I believe that
Jesus took the punishment for my sins by dying on
the cross and coming back to life. I accept Him as
my Savior and Lord. And I will try my best to please
You all the days of my life. Thank You for forgiving
me and saving me now. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
If
you accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, then you
can be sure He heard you. The Bible says, “Anyone
who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans
10:13). You have just begun a relationship with
God and you will definitely spend eternity in heaven
with Him!
If
you made a decision to follow Jesus Christ
today, please take the following steps to continue
your journey. Read
the Bible, pray to the the Lord Jesus Christ, find a
church that teaches the Bible, and tell someone what
you did. Would you please let us be the first to
know? Contact us at info@evangelchurch.com or call 908
-322-9300.
May the God of all
creation reveal himself to you as you diligently
seek him. |