God loves you
That’s the first thing you need to know. He knows everything you’ve ever done (and ever will do) and he still loves you!
He isn’t wielding a big stick, waiting for you to step out of line. He loves you. He does have a stick... It’s called the cross. He loves you so much he sent Jesus to suffer and die on that cross. Jesus took the punishment for your sin. He died so you could live. God loves you.
He invites you to experience that love. This is not an invitation to religion, but relationship. Religion is man trying to reach God, Christianity is God reaching out to man. God loves you.
He loves you enough to do all this, then let you choose. He’ll still love you if you reject him, but you’ll miss the amazing gift he bought for you. God loves you... What will you do with that love?
Believe
The first step to knowing God is to believe. To believe God loves you. To believe Jesus is the only way. To believe you’ve sinned and deserve nothing...
Wait, that’s a word we need to examine. If you’ve ordered water in Spain you’ll know it comes “con gas” (with gas) or “sin gas” (without gas). That’s what sin is. It means to be without, to come up short, to miss the target. The target is perfection and we all fall short. If you miss by a inch or a mile, you still miss... And most of us miss by a mile!
The thing is, Jesus hit the target for us, and if you’ll let him he’ll credit his score to you. Now that’s a good deal!
Before you can move on, you need to believe. To believe that God loves you, that you miss the target and that Jesus really died for your sin and rose again to give you life.
Surrender
Believing isn’t enough. Faith is belief in action. The action you need to take is to surrender, to give up, to admit you can’t do it yourself and let God do it for you... To trust your whole self into God’s hands.
Here’s another word... repent. It means to turn around, change course, change your mind, admit you’re wrong and do it God’s way. That’s what this surrender is. You’re choosing God’s way, not yours. You’re trusting your life into the best hands in the universe.
Welcome
The final step, having surrendered your life to God is to invite him to be the centre of your life. Not competing for your attention, but the centre of every aspect of your life.
He wants real, living, everyday relationship with you.
Are you ready to know God?
There’s no trite prayer for you to say, just an invitation. Review what you’ve read here and start to talk to God about it. Talk to him like the most amazing, perfect, loving father. Talk to him like your best friend. Talk to him like your best advisor. And let him talk to you.
There’s no standard prayer for you to say. Prayer is simply a conversation. Make it real. Enjoy it. God loves you
“For all have sinned; all fall short of God's glorious standard. Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins”
The Bible (NLT)
