In 2013/14 after a failed relationship I decided to take my walk with God seriously. I hadn’t grown up in the church all my life but for the latter part of my teenage years I knew enough to know that there was a God and He desired to have a relationship with me. I remember coming home after a service at a campus fellowship in Kent called Salem Kent kneeling down in my room in tears. Asking God for mercy and giving Him my life again. I knew that God could and would save me from my past and that in Him my life was secure but at that point I really just needed to trust Him. I guess you could say I really needed to just believe in Him.
You see my salvation and your salvation has already been handed to us, all we have to do is receive the gift. Ephesians 2:8 – “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God”. The grace spoken of here is not because of our own doing. In 2 Timothy 1:9, it says He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time. Our salvation has a purpose not only to eternal life which is the ultimate result of our faith (1 Peter 1:9) but also a purpose here on earth…I will further explain later on..
Salvation is simply God saving us from our sins and giving us a new life in Him.
He demonstrated His unconditional love for us by dying on the cross. The significance of Him dying on the cross was to take the ‘curse’ of sin on our behalf. Galatians 3:13 – Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When He was hung on the cross, He took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” YES! Jesus took our wrong doing even before we came to know and accept Him!
Recieving the gift of salvation starts with your confession.
When I returned back to my room that evening I had to confess my sins. I had to confess that the relationship was not right and my behaviour was not godly. It’s true that we have a God who is all-knowing but it is in the sincerity of the confession of our hidden truth that He forgives. 1 John 1:9 tells us that “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness”.
Once we have confessed our sins we can profess also with our mouth our acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Lord and personal saviour. It is this proclamation of our faith that saves us. Here in Romans 10:9 it says “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved”.
It is the grace of God that brings salvation … it teaches us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in the present age (Titus 2:11). Salvation sets us free to live in Christ as we should. It requires a constant dying to self, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15: 31 ‘I die daily’……
….Galatians 5:16 tells us to walk in the spirit because in doing so we will not fulfil the lust of the flesh but produce the fruit of the spirit (v 22).
Salvation is the narrow gate that leads to life which only a few find.
It’s sad to see people in pain, depressed, suicidal and with the recent surges of death and blood shed when we have the key. Once we become saved it is to move us into action to make sure others are saved too. I’ve been guilty of the nonchalant attitude of being O.K with myself being saved and leaving others around me to basically figure it out. It’s true that we can pray for them (prayer is imperative) but once we are saved we must also pass the gospel of good news on so that others will be saved. The gospel of salvation is what strengthen us, read Romans 16:25-27.
My Bishop gave an example of a blind man who is about to fall into a ditch without any warning. It would be evil and wicked to watch and not warn the blind man by guiding him around to avoid falling. Likewise, the same has to be said of the believer. We are to go into all the world and preach the gospel – Mark 16:15 . We cannot be ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile – Romans 1:16.
After reading the scripture in Romans 10:14-15 I had to pause and soak it in. The blood of many are on our hands because we have not gone. I have not gone. We are all sent to make disciples and win souls to the kingdom. I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent – Luke 15:7 . Jesus is concerned about the one, are we?
I pray that as the Lord has called you and I to go into all the world and preach the gospel to those who are lost that we would be obedient. As Elijah was sent to turn the hearts the Fathers to the children, and the hearts of children to their fathers (Malachi 4:6), Jonah to speak a word to the people of Nineveh to cause them to repent, Hosea to the people of Israel to show how far they had gone from God so are we to are world. We are the light that the world needs!
You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
I pray that we would be bold as lions, filled with the Holy Spirit, steadfast and immovable always giving ourselves fully to the work of the Lord because we know that our labour is not in vain.
Amen.
Written by Dami xox
Eleuthera Freedom 