Jesus Himself called “salvation” being “born-again “, and it is just that. When you receive Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, you are giving your very life to Him, letting go of all the past things you have done… you literally become a whole new person as it says in 2 Cor. 5:17: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new.”

Wouldn’t you like to be a whole new person? Wouldn’t you like to know that you are going to Heaven? It’s easier than you think… just follow the simple steps in the scriptures below and you will begin your new life today!

Realize that you are a sinner: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 3:23)

Know that the wages of sin is death: “for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 6:23)

Know that Jesus died on the cross for you: “for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:16-17)

You must repent of your sins: “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presense of the Lord.” (Acts 3:19)

You need to receive Him as your Lord: “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” (John 1:12-13)

You need to ask Jesus to come in: “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Rom. 10:9-10)

If you want that new life today, right now…. please pray this prayer with me:

Dear God,

I know my life is all messed up and I feel like I’m not good enough to come to you, but you said in the Bible that I don’t have to be good enough, because Jesus was….. and He paid the price for my sin. All I know is that I need my life changed, so I’m telling You now that I’m sorry for being a sinner, and I ask you to clean me up and make me whole. Save me, dear Lord! Wash me clean! I ask you to come into my life and make me a new person. I want to be born-again….

Thank you, Lord, for doing it…

In Jesus name,

Amen

If you prayed this prayer, even if you prayed different words from your heart and meant it… then you are saved.. right now!! Welcome to the kingdom of God!

If you prayed today, or if you have any questions about the scriptures I quoted, please write to me and let me know.  lpoland@gmail.com

GOD BLESS YOU!

 Is. 30:18 – Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you; And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you.  For the Lord is a God of justice; Blessed are all those who wait for Him. (NKJV)

What is neat about this verse is the truth that God is waiting for us just so He can be gracious and merciful to us.  And then when He’s gracious and merciful, He gets glory and is exalted!  This is an interesting cycle.  Until I read this verse I never pictured that God Himself would wait on us so He could bless us.

The other kind of waiting this verse discusses, is us waiting for Him.  So there are two kinds of waiting, one where God waits for us so he can be good to us, and one where we wait on God to be good to us.  So basically, God waits on us to wait on Him…. and then He’s gracious to us and He gets the glory in the end.  It’s like a never-ending circle of grace!  Awesome!

Lately I’ve been brousing around in Romans and I’ve been using several versions to compare: NKJV, NCV, Amplified and Greek, with KJV. Today I was reading Romans 5 about how God has reconciled us with his grace, through faith, and one verse stood out…. verse 17.

NKJV says, “much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness – will reign in life, through the One, Jesus Christ.” I’ve read this many times but this time I noticed particularly the phrase about “reigning in life”. I’d missed it before but this scripture is talking about our dominion over the earth, which was lost with Adam, and regained with Christ’s sacrifice. This is just another verse that reinforces who we are in Christ! We should be reigning in life!

NCV says, “But now those people who accept God’s full grace and the great gift of being made right with Him, will surely have true life and rule through the one man, Jesus Christ.” “True life and rule” is the phrase here. But the Amplified indicates it even stronger by saying, “the free gift of righteousness [putting them into right standing with Himself] reign as kings in life through the one man, Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).” “Reign as kings” makes this phrase really strong.

Lately I’ve been musing and asking God to reveal to me what things in my life could be preventing me from reigning as a true king in my life. He has intended for all believers to rule as kings and priests, and not just when we get to Heaven, but now “in life”, because we now have what Adam lost and what Jesus regained for us. I’m reminded of the verse that says, “sin has no dominion over me” (Rom. 6:14). Basically, nothing should have dominion over us now, in Christ! Not sin, not sickness, not poverty, – nothing! We have dominion through Christ!

 Have you ever doubted God’s love for you?  Have you ever fallen into sin and had thoughts of despair.  You are not alone!  God never gives up on us. He remains steadfast in His desire to bless us, even when many of us are tempted to doubt His love. The great tragedy is that so many of us spend our lives trying to earn something we already have, the gift of life which God freely gives us when we decide to follow Christ.

That life in Christ is meant to be lived in victory and the sad part is many believers live in defeat.  In the articles I write for this website I plan to show you “Who you are in Christ.”  We are in this journey together… God bless you all!

1.  I have Redemption and Freedom from sin:

I have redemption through Jesus’ blood.  Eph. 1:7

I’ve been justified freely by His grace.  Rom. 3:24

I am free of the law of sin and death.  Rom. 8:2

I am a new creation in Christ.  2 Cor. 5:17

I have escaped the corruption that is in the world.  2 Pet. 1:4

I am passed from death into life.  John 5:4

Sin has no dominion over me.  Rom. 6:14

I’m redeemed from the hand of the enemy.  Ps. 107:2

2.  I have Righteousness and Godliness:

I am the righteousness of God in Christ.  2 Cor. 5:21

Righteousness shall reign in my life through Christ.  Rom. 5:17

I have all things that pertain to life and godliness.  2 Pet. 1:3

3.  Christ is in me:

I have been crucified with Christ, now it’s not me who lives but Christ who lives in me.  Gal 2:20

I am a partaker of the divine nature.  2 Pet. 1:3-4

I’m filled with the fullness of God.  Eph. 3:19

Greater is He that is in me, than he who is in the world.  1 Jn. 4:4

Christ in me is the hope of glory.  Col. 1:27 

4.  I have an inheiritance:

 I’m an heir of God and joint-heir with Jesus.  Rom. 8:17

  I’m a son of God through faith in Christ Jesus.  Gal. 3:26

  I’m Abraham’s seed and an heir according to the promise.  Gal. 3:29

  I’m no longer a slave, but a son by adoption.  Gal. 4:6-7

  No weapon formed against me shall prosper. (my heritage) Is. 54:17

  I have an incorruptible, undefiled inheritance that won’t fade away.  1 Pet. 1:4

5.  I am perfected forever     Heb. 10:14

6.  I’m complete in Him:     Col. 2:9-10

7.  I have the mind of Christ:    1 Cor. 2:16

8.  I’m sitting together in heavenly places in Him:    Eph. 2:6

9.  I’m blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places (in Him):  Eph. 1:3

10.  He chose me before the foundation of the world:    Eph. 1:4

11.  I am chosen and ordained to bring forth fruit:    John 15:16

12.  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me:    Phil. 4:13

13.  Nothing can separate me from the love of God:    Rom. 8:39

14.  I am translated into the kingdom of Christ and delivered from the power of darkness:     Col. 1:13

15.  I have authority over all the power of the enemy:     Luke 10:19

16.  I’m more than a conqueror:      Rom. 8:37

17.  I am born of God and the evil one doesn’t touch me:      1 Jn. 5:18

18.  God supplies all my need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus:        Phil. 4:19

 19.   By Christ I’m accepted in the Beloved:       Eph. 1:6

20.  I am His sheep and I always hear His voice:       Jn. 10:27

21.   I will never perish and no one can snatch me out of His hand:      Jn. 10:29

 The Bible says God’s mercies are new every morning (Lam. 3:22-23).  So these mercies are being poured out every morning on you.  One of these mercies is “Grace”.  Picture this:  A pitcher that is hanging above your head… this pitcher is like the widow’s barrel of oil that never got empty.  (1 Kings 17:16) This is the pitcher of grace that is constantly being poured out on the child of God.  It’s never ending.  This is the picture of our redemption!

 The Bible says God knew you… even before you were in your mother’s womb. (Jer. 1:5) How is that possible?   I don’t know… it is a mystery.  But God’s redemption for you started way before the world began… way before Jesus was crucified.  The Bible says Jesus was crucified from the foundation of the earth (Rev. 13:8).  That means your redemption was there already when God said, “Let there be light!”

 Ok, so let’s look at this pitcher of grace that is constantly being poured out over you day after day.  This happened from the moment you accepted Christ as your savior and were born again.  This pitcher of grace is being poured over you.  But what happens when you sin?  Does that mean the pitcher of grace suddenly stops flowing?  Of course not, your redemption is a constant work, even if you think you messed it up by sinning.

 In Romans 6:14 Paul says, “Sin has no dominion over you.”  That is true no matter what.  So you ask… if sin has no dominion over me, then why do I sin?  And how can the work of grace and redemption be constant if I sin?  That work is a constant pouring out on you no matter what you do.  Are you a born again child of God?  If you are, then that pitcher is still there pouring grace over you.

 1 John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  So if sin has no dominion over me and over here I sin… what do I do? 

I confess my sin to God and there is instant forgiveness… why?  Because that pitcher of grace is still pouring out over my head.  So you see, sin doesn’t really have dominion over you after all… it’s power was broken when Jesus’ blood was poured out on the cross.  That was when the veil in the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.  That was when our separation from God was destroyed and the pitcher of grace started pouring out.

Ok let’s take an example of the work of redemption on one man…. A man named George.  George was a sinner.  But God knew George even before he was born.  Even then He had this pitcher of grace pouring out.  It was pouring over George’s head when he was a child and continued out his whole life.  How can this be, you ask me… George is a sinner!  Yes, but the pitcher of God’s grace is still there.  There is just this shield around George… it’s like an invisible umbrella over his head.  It’s shielding George from receiving the work of grace and redemption.  It’s there…. But George can’t see it yet.  You see, George is living in linear time.  God lives in eternity without time… but we live in linear time.  God’s grace and mercy were being poured out.. up here  – but we… and George, are living in linear time.

Anyway, let’s look at George’s life.  George started smoking marijuana at a young age.  Then he got into harder drugs.  Finally George robbed a convenience store to support his drug habit and George ended up in prison for 15 years.

One day in prison he sat in on a group of prisoners studying the Bible.  He started to listen and he talked with the local chaplain who visited the prison.

When he understood the plan of salvation, George prayed and got born again.  Then that shield that was separating him from God… like the veil in the temple, was blown away.. destroyed.  George no longer had anything in the way between him and God and now the pitcher of grace is pouring out on him constantly as Jesus is now the author and finisher of his faith.

 What about all the sins he committed that he’s in prison for…and other sins before he even committed a crime?  The Bible says they are scattered as far as east is from the west…. That God remembers them no more.  They are totally wiped out.  Does this mean that he will now instantly get out of prison?  No… because on the earth God has this law in place called “sowing and reaping”. 

 On the earth, in linear time, our lives… with the things we say and do, we are always planting seeds.  And seeds always have a harvest. Whatever seed that is sowed there is a harvest.  So even though George had become a child of God and had a new life, like it says in Corinthians – he’s a new creation… his sins were wiped out but there is still a price to pay for past seeds sown… there is still a harvest to come.  So George’s prison sentence is still going on, because this is the harvest for seeds sown. 

 This doesn’t mean George hasn’t been forgiven by God or that his sins haven’t been wiped out.  It only means that in linear time, where George lives, he still has to have the harvest for seeds sown.  The good news is though, that now that George is a Christian…. Now he has the opportunity to sow some good seeds.  And eventually, those good seeds are going to bring George a good harvest.  He might even get a miracle and his prison sentence might be shortened… nothing is impossible with God.  Remember, now George has that pitcher of grace being poured out on his life.

 Another illustration about sowing and reaping could be Pete.  Pete doesn’t have Jesus in his life yet and he has an anger problem.  Sometimes he gets so angry that he beats up on his wife.  (This is a seed sown).  Eventually these seeds of anger start reaping a harvest for Pete… his wife divorces him and takes the kids.  So Pete is now alone and miserable… and all he can do is know that the seeds he sowed produced this miserable harvest.

 What if Pete finds the Lord?  Well, just like George, there is mercy and grace poured out on him.  This is the miracle of redemption and his redemption is eternal.  But does this mean that the harvest of losing his wife and kids will be turned around?  No, at least not right away.  The seeds that Pete planted have already produced a bad harvest.  But from the day that grace and redemption are being poured out on Pete… this is for eternity.  It’s for his linear life and also his eternal life after he dies, because Pete is a redeemed child of the King!  When Pete starts planting good seeds now that he’s saved… who knows what miracle could happen for him… God could bring his family back into his life.  Nothing is impossible with God!

 George and Pete are just two examples of lives turned around.. lives now walking in redemption.

 What about us?  How does all this pertain to us?  Let’s get back to basics.  If you’re a Christian… if you’ve been born again and had Jesus’ blood take away your sins.  Sin has no dominion over you now.  But if you do sin, you’ll confess your sin to God and you will be forgiven.  Does this mean that pitcher of grace stops pouring on you because you’ve sinned…. No that will never happen, because it will pour constantly all your life now that you have a new life in Christ.

 If you are here today and you’ve never asked Jesus into your heart, you’ve never taken advantage of that grace that has been poured out for you.  You’ve got this invisible shield over you and you’re walking around sinning and sowing terrible seeds of destruction.  Perhaps you’ve already had a bad harvest from these seeds…. Perhaps you’ve already had a bad marriage, or bondage to alcohol or drugs has caused you to do some terrible things.  I’m here to tell you today that Jesus can take all of that away.  You can have a new life in Christ Jesus today… all you have to do is ask.

 And if you’re a Christian here today and you know you’ve been sowing some bad seeds.. you know you’ve kind of walked away from God.  I have good news for you!  That pitcher of grace has never stopped pouring over you.  From the moment of your salvation… it’s been pouring and pouring.  Don’t continue to sin… don’t continue to sow bad seeds.  That will only bring you a bad harvest.  If you’re sowing seeds of unforgiveness…you will only reap unforgiveness.  Let God forgive you and give you a new start… His pitcher of grace is pouring over you right now.

Come…. To Him ……Come.