Discover How to Let Your Faith Arise and Find Peace!
What is a Personal Relationship with Jesus?
Hello my precious friend! Discover how to let your faith arise and find peace. Come along with me on my journey in discovering what a personal relationship with Jesus is and how to have one. I am so glad that you joined me here. You are invited to sit back, relax, and enjoy a cup of coffee (or any other yummy beverage you like).
Come along with me on my journey in discovering what exactly is a personal relationship with Jesus. I think I will start out first by talking about what a personal relationship with Jesus is not.
Growing up as a child our family went to church. I really never thought much about it until I was in middle school. Our family was attending a church at the time that focused heavily on “rules”. My parents would expect me to follow these “rules.”
The problem was that I couldn’t find anywhere in the Bible that said anything about the “rules” that I was expected to follow. (Let me clarify here…I am not against the rules that are written in the Bible just the ones imposed by man.)
Breakout of Rebellion Brings Change
My personality type is one that is a strong-willed-independent thinker. So having my parents force me to abide by the church “rules” didn’t go over very well. I felt like I was being forced into a box of rules. There was a problem with that. I am an oval! Ovals do not fit nicely in a box. They break the box. Therefore…I rebelled.
Fortunately, my parents decided to find a different church. I liked the new church but there were not many young teens my age there. (Though the Pastor’s teenage son was quite a cutie.)
New Church New Beginning
When I was in 10th grade a friend of mine invited me to her youth group ski trip. I went on the ski trip and fell in love with the people in the group. They were all so fun and nice. Thankfully my parents let me start attending their youth group on Wednesday nights.
Eventually, I also started attending Sunday morning service as well. It was there that I discovered that Jesus wanted a personal relationship with me. That was a new concept for me. Wasn’t he like God…an angry, distant being that was just waiting for me to mess up so he could punish me?
That thought, that Jesus wanted to be my best friend, really blew my mind. How could Jesus want me? I was a super rebellious teenager. I had already made some really bad lifestyle choices. How could he possible want me?
Amazing Grace How Sweet the Sound
That is where grace came in. I realized that is why Jesus died on the cross….for sinners just like me. There was more to his death on the cross. He just didn’t die on the cross to save me from sin. He came to rescue me from myself.
Ephesians 2:4-7 New International Version (NIV)
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
Why My Faith Did Not Arise – Perception is Everything
As a 7 year old I accepted Jesus as my Savior but had a distorted view of who God was. I knew Jesus loved me because he died on the cross for me. I wasn’t so sure about God. For years I struggled to believe that God the Father could love me because I didn’t feel loved by my earthly father. Unfortunately, I held on to that perception into my adult years.
John 3:16 New International Version (NIV)
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.
Pharisees make Christianity look fake
During my teens and twenties, the enemy of my soul used people and situations to keep me from truly receiving the unconditional love God had for me. “Religious” people (whom I call Pharisees) made Christianity look fake. I saw them as hypocrites. They were one way in church and another way outside the church.
Matthew 23:27 Contemporary English Version (CEV)
27 You Pharisees and teachers are in for trouble! You’re nothing but show-offs. You’re like tombs that have been whitewashed. On the outside they are beautiful, but inside they are full of bones and filth. 28 That’s what you are like. Outside you look good, but inside you are evil and only pretend to be good.
Unfortunately, I allowed my perception of Christianity to keep me from the the love I so desperately wanted. It was after my parent’s house fire that I truly started to understand how much I was loved by my Father in Heaven.
If you are not familiar with how my journey of healing began you can read it here at Welcome to Living Life Loved.
Are You feeling Empty?
If you are anything like I used to be then you are looking for something to fill up the emptiness inside of you. I searched and searched for that one elusive thing to fill me up. Each and every time what I thought was going to fill me only left me with a deeper void.
I am happy to say that I finally found what I was looking for. You see only one thing can fill that emptiness. That one thing is Jesus. It is through a personal relationship with Jesus that I found “completeness”.
Free Gift Available for the Taking
If I was holding out a gift to you what would you need to do to receive it? Take it…right? Well, Jesus has offered you the free gift of salvation. It is yours for the taking. But it is an action you must take. No one can do it for you. Only you can do it.
Romans 10:13 New International Version (NIV)
13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
The verse doesn’t say everyone who has a grandma that went to church shall be saved or everyone who was baptized shall be saved. It says that the person who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. The person has to take the action.
How to Let Your Faith Arise
Here are the A B C’s of the free gift of salvation –
Admit that God has not been first place in your life and ask Him to forgive your sins.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” I John 1:9 (NIV)
Believe that Jesus died to forgive you and rose again to reconcile you with God.
“If you confess that Jesus is your Lord, and you believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9 (NIV)
Choose to receive Christ and accepts God’s free gift of salvation.
“But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.” John 1:12-13 (NLT)
You are Invited
Come to the Table by Sidewalk Prophets – YouTube Link
We all start on the outside
The outside looking in
This is where grace begins
We were hungry, we were thirsty
With nothing left to give
Oh the shape that we were in
Just when all hope seemed lost
Love opened the door for usHe said come to the table
Come join the sinners who have been redeemed
Take your place beside the Savior now
Sit down and be set free
Come to the tableCome meet this motley crew of misfits
These liars and these thieves
There’s no one unwelcome here, no
So that sin and shame that you brought with you
You can leave it at the door
And let mercy draw you nearJust come to the table
Come join the sinners, you have been redeemed
Take your place beside the Savior now
Sit down and be set free
Come to the table
Just come to the tableLyrics – Come to the table
Remember that you do not need to clean up your life or change your ways before you to come to the Savior. You come as you are.
The above verse, Romans 10:13, does not say that if you do this or that…then you will be saved. No.. it just says the EVERYONE who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. That is very inclusive. Everyone includes you. All that you need to do is take action and call out on the name of the Lord.
It is so simple to take action
It is so simple that when my youngest was 3 years old he asked Jesus into his heart. After he finished saying the prayer, he looked at me and told me that he felt all warm inside. I told him that the warmth was Jesus in his heart. I still smile when I think back to that day.
1 Corinthians 15:2-4 New International Version (NIV)
2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
If you are ready to fill the emptiness inside you with my best friend, Jesus, then all you need to do is say this simple prayer.
Say this prayer…..
“Dear Jesus, thank you for making me and loving me. I realize I need you in my life, and I’m sorry for my sins. I ask you to forgive me. Thank you for dying on the cross for me. Please help me to understand it more. As much as I know how… I want to follow you from now on. Please come into my life and make me a new person inside. I accept your gift of salvation. Please help me to grow as a Christian. In Jesus name, Amen.”
Rejoicing in Heaven
If you prayed that prayer today is your spiritual birthday. The angels in Heaven are rejoicing over your decision to follow Jesus.
Luke 15:10 New International Version (NIV)
10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Grow in Your Relationship and Let Faith Arise
I encourage you to get yourself a Bible and start reading from the book of John. It is about half way through the Bible. The Word of God is like food for your spirit. It truly feeds your soul and helps your faith arise.
Try to find a Christian radio station like K-Love to listen to help you grow spiritually and help your faith arise. The music is positive and uplifting. There are all kinds of information available on growing in your new relationship with Christ. Just a word of caution…make sure that the source claims Jesus as the Son of God. Jesus was far more than a prophet or a teacher.
I Look Forward to Meeting You
We may never meet this side of Heaven but I look forward to the day when we see each other in our true home…Heaven. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about having a personal relationship with Christ. Welcome to the family and may your faith arise!
Gracefully yours,
