A couple of weeks ago I had the wonderful privilege of participating in The Converge Movement. If you are unfamiliar with Converge, it is a local 2 day youth conference sponsored in part by Teens For Christ and other area ministries and businesses. I use the term “conference” rather lightly, because at its core it is exactly what it claims to be, a movement – and it is a powerful one at that, propelled along by lots and lots of prayer, countless hours of hard work, organization, and relentless commitment to the service of the Lord. It draws hundreds of young people in grades 8 through 12 from all over the area, actually all over the world. Their theme and hearts cry is to unify the local body of Christ under the banner of “One mission, One body, One God”. They have just completed their 7th year and I would say they have quite a momentum going. (To learn more go to convergemovement.com and check it out).
Throughout the conference the Gospel is presented many times in many different ways. At the end of the event, an “altar” is opened and everyone is invited to respond to the call and stirring of the Spirit, to come and receive Christ as their Savior. It was truly a miraculous sight to see so many people, young and old alike, boldly and publically stepping forward to receive eternal life.
During this past few weeks, I have thought a lot about those new converts and what they must be thinking and feeling in these early hours of their new life. I offered up prayers of strength and protection for them, knowing they now have a formidable enemy they didn’t have before, one who hates that they have abandoned his dark kingdom for the Kingdom of Light. I wondered if they understood the challenges that lay before them and the changes that would inevitably take place within them, and I wondered if they had someone they could turn to for support. I pray they do. I pray that God will send people into their lives that can answer the questions they will certainly encounter. And I pray they are good, solid Christians that will lead them in Truth.
I would like to offer this blog post in the form of a letter to my newly reborn brothers and sisters in Christ, and to anyone else who may not fully understand what happens next after accepting Christ as their Savior.
And who knows, maybe you have been professing Christianity for a while. If this is true and you are still reading, keep going. Perhaps this is a good time to do a little reflective evaluation and ask yourself , “Do I fully understand and exemplify the principles explained here? Am I a good example for a new Christian to follow? Would a young believer come to me for support and guidance?” I certainly hope that if God places one of His newly born children in the midst of your world, you would reach out to support,encourage and disciple them. After all, that is the essence of the Great Commission.
Dear Child of God,
Allow me to proudly welcome you to the Family !
I cannot tell you how happy that I am that you have decided to take this bold step of faith and proclaim Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior! Congratulations!
I hope that you will seek out someone in your life that will help you as you take your first steps in your new life as a Christian. I hope that you can find a good bible believing church (if you don’t already have one), that has good pastoral leadership and loving, people that will come along side you as you begin the greatest journey you will ever experience.
I remember getting “saved” the first time was when I was very young. It was with my neighbor girl and we were in my bathtub taking a bubble bath. I do not know why this time sticks out in my mind except that I felt extremely happy that my friend “saved me”. I also remember my “religious” grandma being very concerned for me as a young child that I pray and ask Jesus “into my heart”, so I did. I remember one time my whole Christan Youth Crusaders class threw ourselves at the front of the altar after a particularly frightening message about the eternal horrors of hell. Then, when I was a little older the pastor of our small country church did one of those “close your eyes and bow your heads and quietly raise your hand” kind of invitations and… I did, but mostly because my friend standing next to me did it first.
The point I am trying to make is, I got “saved” a lot before I came to an honest understanding of what it actually meant and what I was really doing.
As I look back , I realize that these were all moments God was using to prepare my heart for the time when I was mature enough to truely and sincerly answer His call on my life.
I think this type of thing might happen to a lot of people.
Maybe this has even happened to you and even now you still aren’t sure what all of this “being saved” business really means or how you feel about it.
Several years ago, the Lord helped me to understand that salvation is more of a process than a singular event. It is so much more than saying a simple prayer and signing a commitment card. It is not just making a mental acknowledgement, praying out of an emotion like fear or guilt or going along with what your other friends are doing. It is a decision that should change the course of your life.
If you don’t mind, I’d like to share with you four words the Lord gave me that helped me to remember the process of salvation. These are words that appear often in your bible, words that Jesus Himself used when referring to the authentic Christian life and what it should look like in all of its stages.
BELIEVE RECEIVE KNOW GROW
When you invite Jesus Christ to come into your heart, you are asking Him to not only “save” you from an eternity in Hell, but to be the Lord of your life. It is true that some people only want the “fire insurance” aspect of the relationship, but I can assure you that Jesus wants much more than that. He wants to be in an intimate, personal, loving relationship with you. He wants to live His life IN you and THROUGH you. He wants to save you from the bondage of sin in your life NOW. Let’s go through each of these aspects so that we have a clear understanding of what each one means and how they work in the process of being born again and maturing in Christ.
BELIEVE
The first step in entering into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is the step I assume you have already taken; to Believe that Christ is who He says He is, as He is revealed in the Word of God; it is believing the Gospel message. Sadly, even many professing Christians today do not fully understand the Gospel.
The Gospel message is simply this:
- Jesus Christ existed as God in eternity past.
- He came to earth being born of a virgin, conceived not by a human, earthly father but rather by the Holy Spirit of God.
- He lived a perfect, sinless life, obedient to the Law and will of His Father.
- He willingly laid down His life at the cross as payment for the sins of mankind.
- He rose again on the third day, resurrected by the Spirit of God.
- He ascended to the right hand of the Father to intercede for all who would believe in Him.
- He will come again one day to judge the earth and to receive His Bride, the church.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “but the righteous man shall live by faith.” Romans 1:16-17
Believing is the same as having faith in something. If you believe what the bible says, you have faith in it. The bible says “by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves , it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8.
You also have to believe what the bible says about YOU, and that is that you are a sinner. You already knew this too. You have already felt the weight of your sin. That was the driving force that led you to Christ in the first place, to that place in your heart where you knew you needed to repent of those sins and ask Him for forgiveness. It’s a beautiful thing to come to that place.
“But God demonstrated His own love toward us, in that while were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, We shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.” Romans 5:8-9
RECEIVE
Once you have come to Christ believing, the next thing you did was to invite Christ through the Holy Spirit into your heart, or to RECEIVE Him into your spirit. When you were born into this world, you came into it with a dead spirit. This is a condition all men are born with because of the sin of Adam. When Christ died on the cross, He paid for that sin. And when you accepted Christ as your savior, you were acknowledging that you accepted His payment for YOUR sins. With that sin debt removed, it made a way for the Holy Spirit to come into you and to dwell within your spirit. Your spirit is no longer dead, but has received eternal LIFE! A truly miraculous event has occured! You are now a new creation!
“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” John 14:16-17
“As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and You have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing Teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, And just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.” 1John 2:27
KNOW
Now some people get this far and think that’s all there is to it. But believe me when I tell you that you are only getting started! Jesus didn’t come to give His life on the cross just to save you from the fiery doom of hell, He came to walk in a relationship with you right now.
But knowing the Lord involves much more than merely knowing about Him. You cannot know Christ apart from His Word because the bible says that He IS the Word of God. (John 1:1-2)
“This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” John 17:3
God deeply desires for you to know Him! If you make a commitment to meet Him daily in His Word, He will be faithful to meet you there. Enter into regular conversation with Him through prayer. Learn to hear His voice speaking to you in your heart. Understand that knowing Him and obeying Him go hand in hand. You cannot claim to know God and His holiness and goodness and yet walk in darkness and sin.
“By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, “I have come to know Him” and does not keep His Commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; But whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: The one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.” 1John 2:3-6
Knowing Him and His Word will also help us when we are under attack from our enemy. There is power in His Word, and as God’s sons and daughters, we have the authority to proclaim its promises over ourselves. The devil is not happy about the decision you have just made. He will come at you with both guns a’ blazing to make you doubt everything that has just happened to you. You must fill your heart and mind with Truth to counter those attacks.
GROW
Before you became born again, your sinful flesh had no competition. It just ran the show of your life without conflict. But now there is a new Life within you and its desires are contrary to your sinful self.
Growing involves submission to the Spirit of God living within you. Every time you act according to the will of God and not according to your own selfish desires, you are growing. Growing usually involves suffering because it involves discipline, either your own self-discipline or the corrective discipline delivered from our heavenly Father. Growing strong in the Spirit requires growing weaker in your flesh. And your flesh is a whiny baby. It will cry and demand its way and tell you it’s going to die if you don’t satisfy it. You must yield to the Spirit within you and suffer through until you have gained dominance over your flesh.
“For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake…” Phillipians 1:29
Growing strong in the Spirit will produce fruit of the Spirit. Doing is the fruit of believing. Doing out of obedience to the Spirit is submission and growth. You will harvest the fruit of whatever you sow into; the flesh or the Spirit.
“For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life” Galatians 6:8
The reward is that as you mature in the Spirit, God will reveal more and more of Himself to you. He is a good and loving Father. His desire is not for your good, but for your best! He is more wonderful than you can ever imagine. Undergoing discipline that will refine and sanctify us is a small price to pay for being in an intimate, loving relationship with Him!
“He who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” John14:21
The Conclusion:
Believing, Receiving, Knowing and Growing is something that happens in an instant, AND it’s something that happens over time.
Being “saved”, is simply the first step in the process of your salvation; it is the redeeming, restoring and renewing work that takes place throughout your whole Christian life. Your “believing”, or faith, will increase over time, enabling you to “receive” deeper spiritual insight and knowledge as you mature in your faith. You will come to “know” Christ in a way that increases your trust in Him, “growing” stronger in the Spirit and in relationship to Him. And while being saved does guarantee you an eternal home in heaven, you don’t have to wait till then to enjoy the richness of God’s glory and presence! Praise God for His grace and unending love towards us! Walk confidently, brother and sister, in the newness of life that you have receieved through your faith, and remember that you have been joined by the Spirit to a whole new, awesome family that walks the way of the road to Glory with you!