| WOULD YOU
LIKE TO KNOW JESUS PERSONALLY?
You can!
Because of God's deep love for you, he has already made
all the necessary arrangements. Through the death and resurrection of
Jesus Christ, you can enjoy a personal relationship. Jesus made it
possible to bridge the chasm which separates us from God. The following
four principles will help you discover how to know Jesus personally and
experience the abundant life he promised.
PRINCIPLE 1
God LOVES
you and created you to know Him personally
John 3:16 "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."
John 17:3 "Now this is eternal life: that they may know
you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have
sent."
What prevents us from knowing God personally?
PRINCIPLE
2
Man
is SINFUL and SEPARATED from God, so we cannot know Him
personally or experience His love
Romans
3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God."
Romans
6:23 "The wages of sin is death" [spiritual
separation from God].
Romans
8:6-8 "The mind of sinful man is death, but the
mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the
sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to
God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the
sinful nature cannot please God."
A
great gulf separates man from God. Man is continually
trying to reach God and establish a personal
relationship with Him through human efforts, such as
living a good life, philosophy, or religion. But he
inevitably fails.
The
third principle explains the only way to bridge this
gulf...
PRINCIPLE
3
Jesus
Christ is God's ONLY provision for man's sin. Through
him alone we can know God personally and experience
God's love
Romans
5:8 "God demonstrates His own love toward us, in
that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us."
1
Corinthians 15:3-6 "Christ died for our sins... he
was buried... he was raised on the third day according
to the scriptures... he appeared to Peter, then to the
twelve. After that he appeared to more than five
hundred..."
John
14:6 "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth
and the life. No one comes to the Father except through
me.'"
God
has bridged the gulf that separates us from Him by
sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross in
our place to pay the penalty for our sins.
But
it is not enough just to know these truths...
PRINCIPLE
4
We must
individually RECEIVE Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior;
then we can know God personally and experience His love
John
1:12 "As many as received him, to them he gave the
right to become children of God, even to those who
believe in his name."
Ephesians
2:8-9 "For it is by grace that you have been saved,
through faith. This does not depend on anything you have
achieved, it is the free gift of God; and because it is
not earned no one can boast about it."
Receiving
Christ involves turning to God from self (a spirit of
repentance) and trusting Christ to come into our lives
to forgive us of our sins and make us what he wants us
to be. Just to agree intellectually that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God and that he died on the cross for our
sins is not enough. Nor is it enough to have an
emotional experience. We receive Jesus Christ by faith,
as an act of our will.
Jesus
Christ is waiting for an invitation to come in to your
life. In fact, he says, "Behold, I stand at the
door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the
door, I will come in" (Revelation 3:20).
Perhaps
you can sense Christ knocking at the door of your heart.
You can invite him in by faith right now. God knows your
heart so it doesn't matter exactly what words you use.
Here's a suggested prayer:
My Lord
Jesus, I want to know you personally. Thank you for
dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my
life to you and ask you to come in as my Savior and
Lord. Take control of my life. Thank you for forgiving
my sins and giving me eternal life. Make me the kind
of person you want me to be.
If
this prayer expresses the desire of your heart, pray it
right now and Jesus Christ will come into your life just
as he has promised. Once you invite Christ into your
life, he promises to never leave you.
Hebrews
13:5 "God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never
will I forsake you.'"
To
know God personally is the greatest decision you will
ever make. If you've just asked Jesus Christ into your
life, visit the JESUS
section and tell us about it. We would love to
hear from you.
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