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How
can I learn more about God?
Contrary to popular opinion, knowing about God and His Son Jesus won't
send you to sleep! In fact knowing God in a personal way is the most
exciting thing in the world.
To
know about God we need to understand that . .
God
created humanity
This world of ours was created by God. You and I also were created by God.
God, not by mere chance, is our originator. He therefore has authority
over us. He is our Master (*see Genesis 1:26,27).
Humanity
is alienated from its creator
God is a person and we can know Him in a personal way. However, we don’t
automatically have a relationship with God, the Bible tells us. We are
told that although man was created by God, he rebelled against his Creator
and the relationship was broken. All mankind finds himself in this
predicament of being alienated from God. Far from being friends with God
humanity is described as being at enmity with God having gone its own way
(**see Romans 3:9-19;23).
God loves humanity but He cannot ignore our disobedience.
Humanity
can't save itself
Owing to God's moral perfection, and the fact that
man falls short of God's standard (***see Romans 3:23),
we can’t restore our relationship with God. We owe Him too great a debt.
What
is the solution to our dilemma?
God
loves us and so He sent his own Son, Jesus Christ, as a sinless man to
reconcile humanity to Himself. What we couldn’t do because of our
rebellion (sin), God did in Christ. Christ died on a criminal’s cross
and took the legal penalty for our guilt enabling us to be forgiven. Jesus
Christ, who had never broken God’s law, took the punishment for our
guilt upon Himself (see*Corinthians 5:14,15 &
21).
This
amazing gift, however, is not automatically ours. We must make a
deliberate choice to respond to God.
We
must respond to God
God
has provided the way for us to be reconciled to Himself and forgiven.
However, this forgiveness is not automatic. We have to respond to God
personally by doing two things. A person has to repent and then believe in
what Christ has done.
Repenting
This means turning away from living for ourselves to live for God instead.
In place of being self-directed, we become God-directed. Far from losing
our personalities, we become the people God intended us to be.
Believing
This means trusting that when Jesus died on the cross He payed the penalty
for our rebellion to forgive us and bring us back to God. Instead of
trusting in our own self effort to gain a relationship with God, we rather
trust in the perfect work of Jesus Christ.
How
can I make this step to follow Jesus Christ?
God
Knows All About You And Loves You!
You need to talk to Him and express your desire to know Him. You can do
this by praying (praying is simply talking to God).
A
Suggested Prayer
If you are ready to make the step to follow Jesus Christ as your Lord and
Saviour, you might like to pray a prayer expressing this to God. Prayer is
simply talking to God. You don’t have to be in a church to pray.
“Lord
God, I admit I have broken your laws in many ways. I have lived for
myself, not honouring you as number One in my life. I acknowledge that I
am separated from you because of my sin and rebellion. Please forgive me
for what I have done, not because I deserve forgiveness, but because
Christ paid the full penalty for my sin when he died on the cross. Right
now I choose to trust that when Christ died, He died for me personally.
Lord, I turn away from living for myself and I choose to live for you as
you would have me live. I make you the King of my life. Come into my life
and make me a new person from the inside out.”
If
you know in your heart that you have sincerely prayed this prayer, God
will meet you. Jesus made the following promise:
John
5:24 “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and
believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he
has crossed over from death to life."
If
you have made a step to follow Christ, please
email
us!
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