The Gift

Jesus Is My Saviour Now. What Does That Mean? part2

The Bible is God’s Word and is spiritually inspired. The Bible is a work of literature with the power to drastically change a person, and I really needed to change. Let’s look at Matthew 16:24,25.

Matthew 16:24,25 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” [NIV]

 You are probably wondering what this section of verses has to do with the importance of the Bible. Bare with me and I will explain what it means to me. I think many people look at this statement Jesus made and cringe. Is he asking me to die? I didn’t become a Christian to be a martyr. No, I don’t think that is what Jesus is saying; though I do believe we should be glad to lay down our life for Jesus. It is like the difference between adding a new room to your house and simply buying a completely different house. You can’t simply make Jesus an addition to your life. You must make Jesus your life. I know that we all get comfortable in our old houses, but the new one is so much better. What are we going to use for the foundation of this new home? God’s Word! If you don’t want Jesus’ sacrifice to be in vain you must use this gift to it’s fullest. Lose your life! Move out and move in to a better life with the foundation of God‘s Word. (see Luke 6:46-49) It was hard for me as well. I had to lose friends who wouldn’t join me on my journey, I couldn’t frequent some of the old hang out spots, and there were definitely activities I couldn’t participate in anymore. Trust me when I say that I got over it when I finally felt the new life growing within me and around me. The Bible is one of the ways God speaks to us. So don’t ignore God to your own demise. (see Hebrews 10:39 it’s one of my favorite verses) That brings us to the final piece of the gift of communion with God. Ladies and gentlemen, I present the Helper. The Holy Spirit will help you to discern between good and evil, truth and lies, wisdom and foolishness, as well as giving you the power to perform God’s will. Acts 1:8 is a very simple statement and I love how it tells us the most basic truths about the Holy Spirit. Acts 1:8 breaks it down Barney style.

Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

      You are a believer in Jesus Christ and therefore will receive the power of the Holy Spirit, and then you will use this power to perform the will of God. The will of God, of course, is to bring his creation back to it’s natural state of communion with him. Which brings us to one of the most wonderful tasks that the Holy Spirit helps us with. You could read the Bible and look over a simple verse like this and never think much about the great meaning it has. The Holy Spirit helps us to discern the wisdom hidden within God’s Word. In Luke 8:8 Jesus finishes telling the parable of the sower and then calls out to the crowd, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Then in verse 10 Jesus is speaking to the apostles and quotes the prophecy from Isaiah 6:9, “ ‘though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.’ While we are in sin we are spiritually dead, and can not perceive the wisdom of God. When we show God our love for him by following his teachings he will come to live with us (see John 14:23, 26). The Spirit of God will live within us and teach us. We once saw the Bible as superstition and confusing Confucius sayings because we were cut off from God by our sin. Try reading God’s Word as a child of Christ. You will find yourself saying, “I never noticed that before. Wow! This stuff is starting to make sense.” Discerning God’s Word is probably the least awe inspiring task the Holy Spirit helps us with, but I personally believe it to be the most important. The Holy Spirit will advise us, protect us, comfort us, and give us the power to perform miracles for God. I’ll talk more about the Holy Spirit later, but for now I want you to see how the Holy Spirit helps you to have your newfound friendship with our Creator.  We were originally created for the purpose of fellowship with God and became separated by the original sin. Someone asked me once why God would cause himself so much trouble by letting us have choices? My reasoning was that God could not truly have an intimate relationship with someone who was forced to worship him. God chose to love us and he wants his love to be returned by choice, because in his infinite wisdom he knows real love can’t be forced. Now we can come to have peace and fellowship with our Creator as it was intended. He gave himself in the most heart wrenching sacrifice of love to redeem us from the darkness that is separation from him. We should seek our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ constantly and not take our eyes off of him, because that is what it means to be a Christian.

Jesus Is My Saviour Now. What Does That Mean?

I remember the initial excitement of accepting Jesus Christ as my Savior. I had so much to do; so much to learn! I have to go pick out a Bible appropriate for me! I have to go to church three days a week, and tell everyone I talk to about the good news! After about two months of  being told by everyone, including my new Christian brothers and sisters, if I could please talk about something else I started becoming discouraged. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a good mentor to look after my Christian growth. We will talk about the importance of that later. So here I was having the most exciting time of my life and no one seemed to care. So I stopped talking about it. I kept my spiritual activities to myself. That was my first mistake as a Christian; soon to be followed by many more. In my first year of salvation I gradually stopped going to church and my Bible became dusty. It seemed I was doomed to stay in the first stage of salvation. The Father had other plans, however. Praise the Lord! I now know what it means to be saved by our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you? When I try to ask people why they can’t receive Jesus I often get the reply that they think they are too bad. I ask them, “do you believe in Jesus?” They often reply, “I believe that he existed.” In all seriousness, I have never run into a person who hasn’t heard of Jesus. People are stubborn and want proof. Well, when I ask these people why they believe and have not received they give me the lame rationalization that they are the worst people in the world. They think I am mister goody and they are the devils children. Well there is not a rationalization anyone can give you that you can’t find a rebuttal for in God’s Word. In Romans 3:23 Paul tells us that all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory. We also find this inclusion of ALL people in what I would consider to be one of the most famous verses in the Gospels. John 3:16 doesn’t say that God sent Jesus to save just Wilbur and Dexter. John 3:16 says  that our loving Creator sent his Son to save us ALL. As Christians we can have faith in the fact that Jesus took our sins so that we may have freedom from the destructive power of sin. So don’t let the lie that you can’t be redeemed affect you. Know as a new creature before your God that you have been bought by the blood of Jesus Christ.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” [NIV] So if I am truly saved I won’t Sin anymore, right? No, I am not perfect and neither are you only God is. Yet, if we look at John 8: 34-36,

John 8:34-36 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” [NIV]

 we find that there is hope for us. Jesus tells us that we are slaves to sin. Well what rights have slaves ever had? None, of course, but the Son of God can free us. We are no longer held by the pain of guilt that held us back before. Now we can work towards our sanctification. Many of us however will learn this and think we can sin away as long as we repent. I continued to drink for many years after I accepted Jesus. I would argue that the Bible doesn’t say you can’t drink and that even Jesus drank wine. Just imagine me making my argument with very slurred speech while looking like I very badly needed to take a seat. I’m personally disgusted with those memories of myself. I could never picture Jesus acting the way I did. In John 12:46 Jesus says that he came into the world as a light so that no one who believes in him should walk in the dark. I was trying to save the batteries of my spotlight. I was stumbling around in the dark stubbing my toes and still didn’t have the wits to turn on my light. Don’t wait! Turn on your light, because it’s amazingly bright and will help you out a lot. We are no longer slaves to sin, but sin is all we know so we must learn a new way. God’s Word is your instruction manual. So I beg you to read it. I know we all make mistakes as we grow as Christians, but the less mistakes you make the more comfortable you’ll be. I wish someone had helped me. I now know just how simple it is. In John 14:12 Jesus tells us that anyone who has faith in him will do what he did on the Earth and even greater things. So don’t just ask yourself what Jesus would do. Look in the Bible and see what he does, because you’re a Christian, and your goal is to be like Christ.  One of the very first gifts you receive from God when you give your life to Jesus is the gift of communion. You can now do what you are made for. The Lord gives us three important gifts that allow us to communicate with him. He gives us the gift of God’s Word, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the gift of prayer. Some might not think prayer is a gift, but Jesus gave us the Lord’s prayer (Matthew 6:5-13, Luke 11:2-4). God didn’t have to give us his telephone number, he could of just told us to wait for his call. We should have God on speed dial, yet many of us discount the power of prayer or rationalize about it because we are thinking about the world. I have heard myself say things like, “God knows what I need, I speak to him when I have time.” I’m in shock just looking at such a statement, but it came out of my mouth. Then I would complain about why I can’t get ahead in the world. The fact is that when I look at another person I can generally tell if they need something, and I am sure you can as well. Would you help them if they didn’t ask? A few years ago I would have watched them flounder in despair until they asked for help. God of course is not like that, and in my own growth I have learned that. Now I would offer my help and tell them not to be scared to ask for more help if they need it. If you don’t ask it’s your own fault. That’s my opinion. The Father will continue to gently try to teach us with long suffering patience. God knows what you need, however any healthy relationship needs communication by confirmation. My wife knows that I am probably hungry after a long day at work so she makes dinner. Now how good do you think the foods going to taste if I never confirm that I need dinner and appreciate her for providing this need? Believe me when I say that any hardship I have suffered as a Christian was brought upon me by my own stubbornness. Earlier I mentioned John 14:12. Let us look at the entire comment made by Jesus.

John 14:12-14 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. [NIV]

 I mentioned verse 12 earlier because I wanted to show you that Jesus was an example and he expects us to follow that example, however there is more to be learned from this comment. In verses 13 and 14 Jesus tells us how the Heavenly telecommunications system is set up and gives us the phone number to our Father in Heaven. It may have taken me some time to realize it, hence why we continually read our Bibles, but the portion in verse 12 is very important to the communication system set up by our Savior in verses 13 and 14. Faith is the key to answered prayer. Just think about what it is that makes you have faith in someone. I have found that the more I know about my wife and understand the place she holds in life the more faith I have in her. For example, I know my kids are well cared for and safe with my wife. I have faith that the safety of my children is a fact when they are with my wife. If you want to have more faith in Jesus you need to learn more about him. So increase your faith and increase the power of your prayer. Don’t discount the importance of prayer, because prayer is how your Christian life started.

Recovering from Sin

It’s too easy to just simply walk around as an acceptor of grace. The fallen ones will attempt to slow your progress, and the Holy Spirit will attempt to kick start it. All action whether positive or negative is still your choice. I’m pretty sure that I spend most of my energy sinning without thinking about it, and the rest of my energy trying to remember what I should be trying to do. I excel at accomplishing unproductive activities as well as my absolute favorite; which is to finish only half of a task that will benefit someone else. Just in case you were wondering, I have been a Christian for about ten years, I have read the entire canonized bible numerous times, and consider Apologetics to be a little hobby of mine. So imagine how confused a new Christian is about this whole thing. Assuming you have taken Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, you need to have patience with yourself first. Recovery takes time and faith. I began with Hebrews 10:39 as my mantra. It helped me a lot when I felt backed in a corner. I highly recommend using supportive verses for all the big tasks in your life. You mean God’s Word!? Of course I do!

Hebrews 10:39 We are not of those who believe unto perdition, but of those who believe unto the saving of the soul. (NKJV)

Now I began by praying and seeking the face of my Lord daily. It won’t take much time for you to run into things that block your path. Many people will ask for a quick removal of all the obstacles in their way. They will say, “ you can do it Jesus, because your all powerful and I believe in you.” So they cuss and mistreat others while they wait for God to make them a better person. I realized one day that I was shunning my own self-responsibility. Hasn’t Jesus done enough by taking the shackles off? Not only did he take the shackles off; he gave you the keys and the map to the jail. Get moving! Don’t expect everything to happen at once and don’t try to take on several large tasks at once. The whole process of your sanctification is going to be a lifelong personal inventory. Take the journey a piece at a time and don’t move to the next task until you are absolutely finished with the current one. You don’t have to worry about being on the wrong task if you prioritize by what blocks your view of God the most.

Test Subject

Now, I know by this point you are wondering where such ideas have been tested. I don’t blame you. In fact you should maintain an ideal that requires you test everything. False teachings wonder around among us everywhere. You can weed them out by questioning what doesn’t seem right to you; without fear of confrontation. Any one who is offended by a question and unwilling to concede if proven incorrect; probably knew they were wrong and had unclean intentions to begin with. So who is the test subject in all the experience I am writing about? ME! I, at one point, was merely saved by the grace of God. I was struggling with many more issues than I am now. Some of the highlights or personal victories given to me by faith in Jesus Christ is freedom from drugs, alcohol, tobacco, lying, cheating, stealing, cruelty and much more. I still have much more to work on, but I will guarantee you this; if my self ten years ago met me today he wouldn’t recognize me. Some of my ideas may sound pretty bold. I welcome you to see that the ideas evolved from personal success and are easily defended in the Word of God. For example? Are you prepared to be amazed at some revolutionary thought? I believe that rehabilitation centers only serve as a constructive environment for a forced detox of the body and without an enduring faith and trust in Jesus Christ no man developed program including A.A. or N.A. will ever free you from those vices. Here they come screaming that they have a disease and I agree with them. There is a disease called Sin! I was interned in a treatment facility and attended Alcoholics Anonymous as well as Narcotics Anonymous meetings religiously. What good did it do? None. I was a member of a group of weaklings. Harsh words? The truth is always harsh, and it hurt me when it hit me, but it set me free. John 8: 31-32 So Jesus said to the jews who had believed him, “if you continue in My word, you really are my disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Why would I put my faith in a man-made program and expect success when the Creator has given us a divine rehabilitation program. I only succeeded in defeating Sin when I put my faith in the strength of God, not man. 

Change Of Environment

You have to start by changing your environment. If someone tells you there is a bomb next door you probably won’t respond by saying, “hey, let’s go take a look.” So why would you go into a bar if your a Christian? A bomb only serves one purpose and that is to blow things to pieces, likewise, the general purpose of a bar is to drink alcohol.  

   1 Corinthians 10:13 states: No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity. God is faithful and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape, so that you are able to bear it. (CSB)

 The door to the bar is a good escape. In fact, most temptations have a partition of some type that you must open in order to experience it. Some temptations have multiple partitions between you and them. Cigarette smoking for example had what I believed to be an impossible to break choke hold on me. Now I live my life daily and very rarely even see a cigarette. I don’t smoke so I don’t go to the smoking areas, and I don’t even join them to visit. If they want to talk to me then they can come to where the air is clean. The cigarettes, are in a store usually in a corner or hidden above a register. I personally was amazed at how far I used to go out of my way to smoke. I won’t go in to the details here, but I am sure the other smokers know what I am talking about. The first step to beginning our sanctification is changing our location in the world. You have to evaluate what is not cohesive to your life with Christ. Paul the Apostle mentions fleeing from various Sins. (1Timothy 6:11, 1Corinthians 6:18, and 10:14 for example) Having had many successes myself and praying for many more I can attest to the validity of this concept. If you do an assessment and find it won’t help your spiritual growth then it needs to change as soon as you can change it. Find another job, get another house, make new friends...... Take it a step at a time and read God’s Word and pray daily.

Change Is Good

Change is good simply because it causes growth. When we become too comfortable we as humans have a tendency to cease any movement that may cause a disturbance in our comfort. In John 3:8, Jesus says, “The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” I have read over that verse so many times and only thought of it in the context of what Jesus was attempting to explain to Nicodemus and never thought of the knowledge concealed in the speech of Jesus. How truthful this statement is in representing the Christian’s essence. After so many years of seeking my Savior I have become nearly unrecognizable to those who were familiar with me in the past. Those who meet me now are tempted to refute my testimony based upon my current behavior. They really can’t see where I have come from. I finally see now that my path as God’s child is truly concealed from me and I have to practice faith. To be ready to follow instructions at a moments notice is very difficult on a person’s faith because we want to have control, however in order to prosper in God’s will we must be willing to give ourselves to His will. When we do give ourselves up to Him our plans cannot be known by our enemies and we are allowed to peacefully go about God’s business knowing that the enemy cannot catch us when we rely on our Creator’s grace. I would like for you to think about the nature of the wind. It constantly changes, you can never pinpoint it’s origins, you never know where it’s travels will end, It can be gentle, and it can be powerful.