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If you've found your way to this page, it is not by accident. God has been calling you? He wants you to 'get it' for yourself.

Sit still for a minute. Find a quiet place where there are no distractions and let God's Word speak to your heart. You may not have a Bible with you so I will give you the scriptures that you can find later.

Let's start at the beginning.

If you've ever seen anything intricate like a watch ticking away, peek inside. It's pretty amazing, isn't it? There was precision involved in the details of that watch. If you found the watchmaker and said,

In the beginning, God. You've heard that before, and yet maybe it was hard for you to truly believe it. Consider with me for a minute, does it really make sense that everything just fell into place? Or does it make more sense that a master designer created it?

The Bible is God's Word. It's the way He continues to speak to us today. Consider that it was written over a 1500 year span by over 40 authors and it has survived centuries of rulers trying to stamp it out. Do you know any other piece of literature that can say the same? It is the inspired Word of God written by men who were obedient.

In Genesis 1:27 it tells that God created us to reflect His image and to have a relationship with Him. Then sin entered the world and we thought we would try our own way.

How's that working out for you? Yea, it didn't work for me either.

Sin is when we deliberately do something we know is wrong. It separates us from God because He is Holy and cannot be associated with sin. So He created a way to restore that relationship. He sent His Son Jesus to be a sacrifice for our sins. All of our sins.

John 10:10 "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."

Your life has purpose! God wants to give you an abundant life, He does!

Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

BUT

God is love!

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Read these verses too:
Psalm 100:3 & Acts 17:24-31

Proverbs 14:12 "There is a way that seems right unto man, but in the end leads to death."

I know you hear that there are many ways to heaven in today's tolerant culture. Satan is very clever at attempting to make parallels with God. He wants to make other things appear almost right so you can still continue to live any way you like and not feel bad. Don't fall for it. He is a liar.

You cannot earn your way into heaven. You cannot DO enough in your own efforts.

Ephesians 2:8-9 "Salvation is a FREE gift from God." Period.

Read these verses too:
Romans 3:10-12, 3:20
James 2:10

Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this; while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

He sent His Son to walk on this earth, fully God, yet fully human, so that He would understand your struggles and be able to empathize. And to pay the price for your sin and mine. He gave up His life to pay for every sneaky, rotten, horrible thing that we could do. Your sin is not so bad that God's grace cannot cover it with His Son's blood.

Blood, I know, what's that all about and why is it necessary. The very first sin was disobedience by Adam & Eve when God told them not to eat from one tree. They had hundreds of others to choose from, but He had to give them a choice, otherwise He would have just created robots. Unfortunately they chose to disobey.

So there they are naked in the garden and suddenly they realize - we are naked and guilty of disobeying.

They tried to hide from God, and maybe you've been hiding too. Maybe you've been running around trying to fix things. It's not working is it?

It didn't work for Adam & Eve either, so God saved them. He covered them with the skin of an animal, a fur coat! Think about it, to get the fur coat, something had to die, blood was shed because of their disobedience.

From that point on there was always a sacrifice for sins, but people would have to give a sacrifice over and over and over every time they messed up.

God knew that people needed a final, once and for all sacrifice that would be enough. One perfect sacrifice that was so BIG, so AMAZING, so INCOMPARABLE, that it would cover every sin for all eternity. His Son stepped out of heaven and onto the earth to become that sacrifice.

Wow! 

Colossians 1:21-22 "Christ's death enables a person to be holy, blameless, and free from guilt."

Confess.
Romans 10:9 "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."

Ephesians 2:4-5 "But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved."

Grace. That's it. His free gift. Now it's up to you, will you accept it?

If you want to know this 'relationship' we talk about, pray this prayer with me:

Lord, I confess that I have sinned against you and ask you to forgive me. I am sorry that my sin has hurt You and other people in my life. I acknowledge that I could never earn salvation by my good works, but I come to you and trust in what Jesus did for me on the cross. I believe that You love me and that Jesus died and rose again so that I can be forgiven and come to know You. I ask you to come into my heart and that You would be Lord of my life. I trust You with my life and I thank You for loving me so much that I can know you here on earth, and spend the rest of eternity with You in heaven.
In Jesus name, Amen. 

We would love to hear from you if you have prayed the above prayer or have a recommitment to living a Christian life. Please let us know how we can support you.

Talk to God every day about what you think and feel. He will listen.

The coolest part of all is that abundant life thing! When we receive Christ, believing, confessing, accepting, God does something amazing! He seals you by placing His Holy Spirit inside your heart! You are stamped with God's seal of approval ;o) Remember, knowing doesn't always mean 'feeling' ok? You can KNOW that God has done what He promised because He always fulfills His promises. He said, once you are His, He will NEVER leave you or forsake you. Period!

Read these:
John 1:12-13
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
2 Corinthians 5:17, 1:21-22
1 John 5: 12-13

In His grip,
Luann Prater

www.LuannPrater.com
www.EncouragementCafe.com
www.Proverbs31.org