Salvation and Repentance
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The
reason this session has to be the first one you go through is that as
a minister, my first order of business is to preach the gospel of salvation. It is the foundation that this teaching is
based on. If you go through
this book without the power within to "do" what is taught,
then it becomes a self-help book and not one inspired by the Holy Spirit
that brings full life and peace into your life - then promise of life
after this life! I need to ensure that you know that you are
saved, how to become saved, and what it means to be saved. Some may
think they are, but they really aren't. The Holy Spirit within you teaches
these teachings, and if you have not received Jesus as Savior or acknowledged
what Jesus truly did on the cross for you, you may have a difficult
time receiving what I'll be sharing. So before going to the "meat"
of the teachings, take a look at the following points, and if any apply
to you, then this session is for you: (And if not, read it anyway, you
may be able to help someone else.)
Before
we can really start our journey living in freedom, we have to get this
one thing certain in our lives. If you are unsure, then you are in for
a rocky relationship with yourself and with God, you will become very
frustrated trying to "do" what you know you should, etc. The
Bible says that we need not keep going over the salvation plan; we'll
never grow up. This has to be settled once and for all, and you have
to believe it and never doubt it again. I believe by the time you finish
reading this, and then praying about this, you will have a certainty
in your heart so you can truly start growing up in Christ and living
in the victory you so desire.
The
first thing we need to do is go to the Word and see what it says:
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"As it is written, there is non righteous, no not one." (Romans
4:10)
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"For all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God" (Romans
4:23)
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"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23)
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"If we say we have no sin then the truth is not in us." (I
John 1:5-8)
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If we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and believe
in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, we shall be saved."
(Romans 10:9)
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"God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish but have everlasting life."
(John 3:16)
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"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (I John 1:9)
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Whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.
(Romans 10:13)
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"We are saved by grace through faith, not of yourselves, it is the
gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians
2:8)
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"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will
send in My name (Jesus), He shall teach you all things, and bring all
things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said to you. Peace I leave
with you, My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, so let
not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:26-27)
These
scriptures clearly show us one main theme. If you believe! That
is all you need to do to be saved and to continue growing in the things
of the Lord. Being saved does not mean you have to go and prove to the
world you are saved by starting some worldwide ministry, or "trying"
to be perfect. Being saved comes from believing, and then from believing
you will begin living rightly.
I
discovered that I couldn’t do anything from my heart if I don't first
believe in it. If I begin "doing" something without believing
it to be true, it becomes works of the flesh and can end up in failure,
frustration, guilt and sin. God
looks upon our heart, not our works. So then as we go and "do"
the word (James 1) then others will see your good fruit and that could
lead to their conversion as well. We win others by our example, not
by our words. But remember, "trying" to be a good example
is NOT what you are to do. When you truly believe something, you will
"live" it easily and naturally, without effort! This is the
peace God speaks of in the Bible. If you start believing, the rest will
follow. Believing is ONLY the beginning of a lifelong journey. If you
don't believe something now, pray that God help you believe, and wait
on him to bring it to pass. The
Bible is very clear that God wills in us both to will and do of his
good pleasure. So get off that treadmill of "good works" and just believe
what you believe now. However,
this is where most people start to have problems. Once we are saved
by believing, we are recruited to begin "doing" a bunch of
stuff - either by others, our church or even ourselves. We jump in and begin "trying" to be a Christian! The same
way you were saved is the same way you continue living, by believing.
(Galatians 3:1-3). We are only perfected in our Christian walk by faith
(believing) and that comes in time, not over night! You do not need to be doing more than you believe right now! What
I mean is that you are OK right where you are, you don't have to "try"
to do any more than you are doing, unless of course the Lord is leading
you "by faith" to do something.
I
found that when I finally got the following things down in my life,
my life took a radical change for the better.
(more is discussed in sessions to come.) 1) That I'm truly saved (I doubted it from time to
time because of what I would do or think) 2) To live my life simply believing (I wasn't doing
this either, I was out "trying" to accomplish the Christian
life instead of entering into God's rest to accomplish it for me!) 3) And most of all that God loved me, just as I am,
at all times, regardless of what I thing, said or did. (more is discussed
in following sessions.)
If
we believed we are truly saved, then we won't have any question about
God's love for us. "For God so loved the world that He gave…."
This is the KEY to living the life of a believer. And I know that many
of you "know" God loves you, but what you have to do is "believe"
He loves you. That is evidenced if you can "receive" it personally
right now for yourselves! When we truly believe something, it becomes
part of us, not like "knowledge" that comes and goes. When
we truly believe, it becomes a permanent fixture in our lives. We begin
living what we believe! The Bible says that we should lay a firm foundation
so we can begin building on it, but if we still have to keep going over
and over the foundation points, we'll never grow.
Ask God now to help you get this once and for all for yourself
- even if you have been a Christian for 18 years like I was!
IMPORTANT!
When we believe what I just shared, the next step is to receive. We
believe AND receive to be complete. I can believe Jesus died on the
cross for my sins, but until I receive that truth into my life, it's
nothing. The devils even "believe" the difference is they
cannot "receive." This is CRITICAL for you to be able to have
the kind of relationship you want with God the Father, God the Son and
God the Holy Spirit. We "receive" totally when we apply the
sacrifice Jesus gave. Truthfully, as a believer you do not need to ASK
for forgiveness, you need to "receive" because Jesus has forgiven
you of all your sins, yesterday's, todays and tomorrows. When I confess
my sins to God, I then say, "Father I receive the forgiveness,
and thank you for forgiving me."
But, until we "receive" and "apply" (appropriate)
that forgiveness to our sin, we will be under guilt and condemnation.
People who are under guilt of any kind or feeling condemned for any
reason have NOT applied the forgiveness and sacrifice to their lives.
So
perhaps you "know" you are saved, but do you "believe"
you are saved is the real question? This
is the foundation for us to grow up in Christ. Many are "trying"
to be Christians but don't have the power behind it (the Holy Spirit
within) to "be" a Christian. When we receive Christ (believe
what I shared above), we are given the power to overcome sin. And truthfully,
that is what being a believer means. Believing is the power to be victorious
over all sin. If sin were not in the world, we would not need a Savior?
After all, Jesus came to save us FROM our sin! It's all about "sin!" Once
we have been saved, now what do we do? As I shared moments ago, we are
to continue our lives "believing" not "doing" as
the scriptures say (Galatians 3:1-3). Doing comes after we truly believed
AND received the salvation and forgiveness of sins. However, many are
out doing a bunch of stuff thinking it's what they are supposed
to be doing as part of their salvation. This is error and bondage. The
scripture, "Faith without works is dead" (James 2:17) applies
here. Because God looks at the heart and motive for whatever we do,
and if it's not being done in faith, no matter what it is, it's counted
as sin. (Romans 14:23) But a person who truly has received a revelation
on being forgiven and applying it daily to their lives, they will have
"works" that are not dead. They will have fruit, and many
will be touched by this person's life, because it's from the heart of
God, which is Faith.
Repentance:
Once
we get past the salvation, we need to now understand what "repentance"
means to us. We are to live a life in truth. (John 17:17) What is really
awesome is that God has made a way for us to remain a Christian even
when we do things wrong because of the price Jesus paid for our sins
- we ARE forgiven! Forever! But we need to believe we are forgiven –
that’s what it means when Jesus told the disciples the work they were
to do was “believe.” He knew
that was going to be the most difficult thing they would do.
But to only believe is the first part of repentance, then we
need to receive. I can believe
I’m forgiven, but it does me little good until I receive the forgiveness. If I go around “knowing” I can fall under guilt
and shame. But once I “receive”
it, I’m made free of all guilt and shame!
We don't have to beg to be forgiven. We ARE forgiven. A double
minded man is unstable in all his ways and he shall receive nothing
of the Lord! (James 1:6-8) If
we believe and then doubt, believe and then doubt, this is double-mindedness. We are not saved one day when we "think"
we are good, and the next when we "think" we are bad.
When our children do this, does that make our children any less
our children when they disobey? No, they are still your child. Same with us, we are still saved and Children
of God regardless! As
we go out into the world from conversion, we have opportunity to come
up against so many obstacles. How deep our roots are from the first
moment we believe is how we will weather these obstacles. (Mark 4:3-8)
Good roots are made deep when you truly "believe" what I've
just shared. Now
to set that salvation in stone, we need to live as though we are saved.
When we receive Christ as our Savior, we have been given a desire to
serve Him. We turn from those things we used to serve to serve Him.
This is called repentance. If
you have a desire to serve the Lord in your heart, you are on the right
track. The Holy Spirit draws us by His spirit and calls us to be God's
own. That means we have an inherited desire to follow him (not that
we do such a good job at it) but we want to follow him none-the-less.
I
worked with someone recently who was seeking help from the Lord, people
ministered to her, she even went to seminars and conferences, she knew
the Bible was the help she needed but struggled terribly to live in
victory. She shared with me that she realized she was never really saved!
It wasn't until she "understood" what it meant to truly repent. The information below is an excerpt from what
she shared: The
Real Meaning of Repentance Most
believers don't believe that Satan can lead them astray through God's
Word. But Satan comes as "an angel of light" (II Corinthians11:14).
So he won't come to you quoting from some heathen religious book, but
from the Bible. If Satan could try to tempt even Jesus by quoting the
Scriptures, we can be certain that he will try that with us too. Someone
has said that truth is like a bird having two wings - "It is written"
and "It is also written". If you have only one wing, you will
go around in circles perpetually and probably astray. But when you have
both wings you move forward. Consider
the answer to this question: Why did Christ die on the cross? The common
answer to that question is: It is written, "Christ died for our
sins." (1 Corinthians15:3). But that is only half the truth. To
get the whole truth, we must look at another Scripture. It is also written,
"Christ died so that those who live should no longer live for themselves
but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf." (II Corinthians
5:15). Only when we put both these Scriptures together, do we get both
wings of truth. When
we read that Christ died for our sins - we need to understand what sin
is. This can be understood aright only when we look at the second Scripture.
There we see that to sin is to live for ourselves. But that is not the
common understanding of sin that most believers have. When you say that
you don't want to sin anymore, do you really mean that you don't want
to live for yourself anymore? As
we get a better understanding of God and Scripture, we will realize
that sin is not just murder, adultery and theft etc., it is living for
oneself. If we live for ourselves, whatever bad habits we may have put
away, we are still living in sin. Anything that is not of faith is Sin.
(Romans 14) "If
any man is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away"
(II Corinthians 5:17). This means that the old attitudes, the old way
of living has gone away. He is no longer living for himself. He has
not reached the goal of Christ likeness. But he has turned around and
is seeking to live for the glory of God. This and this alone is true
repentance. Repentance
means an "About Turn", so that we turn our backs henceforth
to living for ourselves and decide to live for God alone. This does
not mean becoming full time Christian workers. No. God calls only 1
in a 1000 of believers to be full time workers. He wants all His other
children to work in secular jobs - earning their own living, but not
living for themselves but for the glory of God. Repentance
is described in 1 Thessalonians 1:9, as "Turning to God from idols".
Many so-called believers have not turned to God from their idols. In
India, many of the heathen people are happy to accept Christ as their
god - but only as one more god in addition to the many idols that they
already worship. We know that this is impossible. One who accepts Christ
must give up all other gods and idols. Remember
the Holy Spirit says to believers, "Little children, guard yourselves
from idols" (1 John.5:21). There is no difference between a heathen
man who wants to accept Christ in addition to his existing gods, and
the so-called believer who wants to accept Christ, but still wants to
pursue after money (his present god). We
must give our lives to God, our lives must be for Him to order as He
pleases. Have you turned toward Him and away from seeking your own?
Many believers are going to have a lot of regret when Jesus returns
and they discover that all the money that they earned on earth was no
better than the play-money that children play with in a MONOPOLY game
- worth nothing!! And all the property that they acquired on earth too
was just like the hotels and the houses on that MONOPOLY board - worth
nothing. The game of life is over then and they never accomplished anything
other than accumulating worthless things that have no eternal value.
They have lived a useless life. There will be tremendous regret too
if all they sought for was honor and they discover that their honor
has evaporated in the light of eternity. We are to seek those things,
which are above, not the things that are upon the earth. (Colossians
3:1) But
those who have lived to do the will of God and for the glory of God
will find that they have tremendous joy in that day. Material things
are only for our use on this earth. That is all. As long as we use them,
that is all right. But they should never master us. It is one
thing to use money. It is another thing to be mastered by it. Money
is an excellent servant but a terrible master. Why
are most homes war zones today? Because both husbands and wives want
to live for themselves. Even pastors and preachers are divorcing their
wives and marrying other women. The
reason for all this is that believers have not seen that sin is living
for oneself. They have not seen it because they have not been taught
it. The fault is with their leaders and their blood is on the hands
of their leaders who are accountable to God. Jesus
said, "very few will find the way of life". Why? Because
the gate is so narrow. (Matthew 7:14) A
believer, a true believer, LOVES the truth. The truth about themselves,
the truth about the Word, the truth about everything. The Bible says
that those who love a lie, their father is the devil. It is a great
grace that God has given us an ear to hear the truth. God loved us before
we were born and wanted the best for us. He did not want us to waste
our lives and to wake up in eternity to find ourselves paupers. He wants
us to be wise and to live for the things that are eternal. Kingdom
living is not living for money, houses and lands, etc.; they will be
shaken and removed one day. Only that which is not created will remain.
So we must be wise to spend our time and energies for that which will
remain eternally. And let me say again that that does not mean that
you should all become full time Christian workers. But it does mean
that in whatever work you do; you no longer live for yourself, but only
for the glory of God. The Bible says that we can do nothing apart from
Him anyway. You can certainly
work and earn the best salary possible - to support yourself and the
Lord's work. But your goal in life must be the glory of God. Your ambition
in life must be to please Him. I
am not saying that we can't go for a picnic or have any form of recreation.
Of course we can. As human beings, we need that - whether playing games
or listening to music and even visiting with friends and neighbors (which
by the way is a way we also visit with God) or whatever. All that is
perfectly all right, if it is clean and healthy entertainment. It is
when any of these things master us and begin to be a dominant interest
in our lives that we cross over the red line into dangerous ground.
It is very easy for a job or a sport or some harmless entertainment
to become so much a part of a person's life that it becomes the main
thing in his life (idol). And then even his wife and children get neglected.
And God of course gets neglected first of all. When that happens, then
you know that that thing (whatever it is) has become the man's master.
God
tested Abraham's devotion that day to check whether Isaac had become
an idol in his life. God told him, as it were, that he had to turn from
all idolatry if he was to serve the Lord. And so he had to place his
son on the altar and give him up. God did not take Isaac away, because
God was only detaching Abraham from his unnatural attachment to Isaac
that would have hindered his walk with God. God has to do the same with
us. We have to give him that which is most precious to us. In
the rich young ruler's case it was his money. Just like God asked Abraham
to give up Isaac, God asked the rich young ruler to give up his money.
For all you know, if that rich man had only said "Yes, Lord, here
it is all", God may have told him that he could keep his money,
just like he told Abraham to keep Isaac. But he had to give it up first.
May
we then all have the grace to say, "Lord whatever Isaacs there
are in my life, I lay them all on the altar and give them all up to
you. I don't want any more idols in my life that come between you and
me. I don't want to live for myself. I really want to live for you alone.
I want to live for the glory of God. I don't want to waste my life."
This
is the best news in the world: We don't have to be slaves to our own
ambitions and desires any more and thus waste our earthly lives, but
can be free to live for the glory of God and thus live useful lives.
To live for ourselves is to live in bondage and in chains. To live for
the glory of God is to be like the eagles that fly in the sky. The good
news of the gospel is that Jesus can break every chain and set you free
- TODAY!! It is written, "If you lose your life, you shall find
it." If
you have wasted much time in profitless pursuits in the past, you can't
do anything about that now. You can confess your sin of selfishness,
etc., receive forgiveness now and start the day a-new.
The Bible says His mercies are "new" every morning!
Since
there is still time ahead of us, we can get things right in our heart
with the Lord. If you desire a security of salvation and of repentance,
then pray this prayer: "Lord
I can't do anything about the years of my life that are past. But I
want to live the rest of my life for you alone. Search my life and see
if there are any idols that I am worshipping. I want to turn from every
idol in my life to worship and serve you alone. Lord Jesus I repent
especially of this unconscious idolatry of living for myself. I ask
you to come into my life, not only as my Savior, but as my Lord.
I pray that you are Lord over my life, not me. I know that I
am a sinner and Jesus came to pay the penalty for my sins. I believe
He rose from the grave and lives! And because He lives, by my receiving
Him, I will live too. I confess my sins and thank you for forgiving
me of my sins, and cleansing me from all unrighteousness. I believe
you have saved me and will not doubt that salvation again. Help me to
believe this every day of my life Lord. I receive your Love, your forgiveness
and choose to live for your glory every day. When I fail, I will come to you and confess,
I will not fear or doubt or worry I've lost your love - I will only
believe that you forgive and receive that love and forgiveness immediately. I pray all these things by faith, in Jesus
precious name, Amen." What
Does Love Have to Do with Healing? If
we aren’t in right fellowship (relationship) with God, how can He give
us anything? If we aren't in right relationship with ourselves or others,
we are sinning - and sin prevents good things from happening to us.
(Jeremiah 5:25). We prevent
Him from moving in our lives because of our sins and iniquities. (Isaiah
59:1-2) Until we understand the Love of God, we cannot receive anything
from Him in the amount He wants us to have. So if we haven't received
His love, we certainly can’t love ourselves, let alone love others.
Are you trying to forgive and love? Did you know that all your "trying"
amounts to "works of the flesh"? Wouldn’t it be nice if you
can simply "forgive and love"? Did you know that forgiveness
and love brings health? As
we enter into this teaching session, it is important that you take your
time going through it. Give it time to absorb. I’ve had people say that
there is a lot of knowledge being imparted and it’s very over-whelming
to take in all at once. But be "diligent" and don’t give up
because a diligent person will obtain righteousness and honor. (Proverbs
21:21). Matthew 5 says, "Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst
after righteousness for they shall be filled." This
ministry believes that God is the Father, God is the Son and God is
the Holy Spirit. We need to understand these three characters of God
in their entirety in order to understand who God is. (Ephesians Chapter
4) We will be identifying each person separately for complete understanding
and knowledge. This is the most important foundation to ALL healing
and health! Why? Because as stated earlier, when we don’t have a right
relationship with God, there is a breakdown preventing Him from hearing
our prayers, resulting in no healing. Until I understood the Godhead
fully, I was still in bondage myself! This is a KEY scripture and a very important
for foundation: "Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God (relationship) with all thine heart (spirit
man), soul (psyche) and mind (physio) and you shall love your neighbor
as yourself. Upon this, the law and the prophets hang." (Matthew
22:37-40) You can’t love yourself and have self-hatred and guilt. You
can’t love your neighbor with unforgiveness. You can’t love God, because
scripture teaches, how can you hate your brother whom you have seen
and love God whom you have not seen? The Bible says in Matthew 5 "He
who hates is brother without a cause is in danger of the judgment." By
breaking down this key passage of scripture, it will help us gain knowledge
necessary to impact our lives to change in our mind, body and soul:
"We are to love the Lord thy God with
all thine heart, soul and mind…." How
do we Love God? First we need to know His character. You’d
be surprised how many people see God as a tyrant waiting to pounce on
them when they do something wrong. They don’t see Him as a loving Father
wanting to help His children. They only have their own fathers to compare
God with and don’t understand the Love of God. They may fear their fathers
to the point of avoiding them. Many people transfer this kind of fear
to God. God wants us to come to Him any time, day or night, about anything!
What have you believed about God? Proverbs
2:1-5 says, "My son if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my
commandments with thee, so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom,
and apply thine heart to understanding, Yea, if thou criest after knowledge,
and liftest up thy voice for understanding, if thou seek her as for
silver, and searches for her as for hid treasures, THEN shalt thou understand
the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God." We have the wrong kind of fear about God! The book of Jeremiah also speaks of relationship with God. Also includes relationships with others and with ourselves, explaining the results of not abiding in truth!
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