“The Sinner’s Prayer” a perhaps over-used and over-simplified phrase, is just your heart and mind agreeing you have sin in your life, and ‘don’t’ have that relationship with Jesus that washes you clean in preparation for, and guaranteeing, Salvation – and then the best part – asking Jesus/Yeshua for, and beginning, that relationship.
Many give it specific words, but the words mean nothing…only the position of your heart and the decision of your mind…but i’m getting ahead of myself…stay with me to the end of this Blog entry PLEASE, this is IMPORTANT! Did you know that there are polling agencies that even track the numbers of people, who after coming forward at an Evangelistic Crusade, are regular church attenders a year or more later (the only ‘tangible’ way they can statistically measure if you are still interested/growing in your faith…not a perfect method, but they have to deal in “tangibles.”).
Now granted, they are only measuring Evangelistic Crusades, not other types of Evangelism, but that’s because it’s easy to get numbers from them. Anyway, the numbers aren’t promising…less than a tenth. Now that doesn’t make Evangelistic Crusades; praying “The Sinner’s Prayer;” having Alter Calls; Gideon’s International members doing Bible placings and street ministry; house to house; friend to friend, and/or any other type of Evangelism a bad thing, it just basically speaks to a few things:
- The Parable of the sowing of the seeds – remember some seed lands on shallow ground, some were stolen by the enemy before they could sprout, and some were choked by the thorns of life.
- There is also research that shows that it is an average of “7” contacts/approaches with the Gospel before the heart is reached.
- The Bible talks about breaking up the “fallow ground”…that is land that could be productive, but for whatever reason has not been broken up, tilled, plowed, and prepared for planting. (see the “7 approaches” above)
Look, we live in a tough, fast-moving, harsh world…and it makes our hearts hard, and harsh if we are not careful. I would ask you, if you don’t know Jesus (Yeshua), or have wandered away (like I did) because of the busyness of life…to come home…to reach out to Jesus, who has been right there by your side hoping you’ll acknowledge Him, all the while you’ve been too busy. Say a form of “Sinner’s Prayer” if you want…it’s a great start…but mostly, check your HEART (soul/being/essence-that which is the very CORE of you)…not your emotions, and make a decision of both the Heart, and the Mind, to follow Jesus; to talk to Father God (YAHWEH), through the Son (Yeshua/Jesus); to welcome IN the Holy Spirit to your home, your life. Cry out to GOD that you want Him to make Himself REAL to you…to change your life, not to bring you “happiness,” but the JOY that will make you play Worship Music in your home when there’s no one there to impress, and DANCE AND SING Hallelujah’s to God Almighty (your cats will look at you even more strangely than usual) just because the Holy Spirit has so filled you at that moment that it just HAS to come flooding out. It’s about the position of your HEART, and about FOLLOWING THROUGH! Pray UNCEASINGLY! If you sin (you will), REPENT! Keep your accounts SHORT with GOD, and remember, when GOD FORGIVES, you don’t need to go back to Him 57 times about that particular sin that you committed that particular time…because 56 times God won’t know what you are talking about…because He “chose” to forget it when you sincerely repented. You are the only one remembering it, and giving the evil one the chance to beat you up with it…you, and anyone here on earth it may have hurt…heal “that” wound if you can, and with Jesus help, sin no more (not those same ones over and over anyway)… God doesn’t want you to come perfect…fact is…you CAN’T…God just wants you to COME….that’s why JESUS paid/paved the way…HE paid the price for you, never forget the CROSS…HE bought your ticket to the feast…he even bought you the awesome white suit (robe) you’ll wear, that won’t even get stained when you drop spaghetti sauce on it at the feast!
Just tell God you’ve sinned, that you heard He sent Jesus to live that perfect life you can’t, and then to pay YOUR PRICE by dying on the Cross. Tell God you KNOW Jesus BEAT DEATH because He lived a perfect life, rose bodily (not just a Spirit) from the grave after three days, visited with His Apostles, then ascended to be with the FATHER, sending the Holy Spirit (our Paraclete – helper, counselor, teacher) to guide and fill us…ACCEPT THAT GIFT of SALVATION, and the Gift of the Holy Spirit to Guide You…be SINCERE, then ask God to help you find a good Church…careful, Satan infests the Church…but GOD will give you discernment if you ask…a few pointers: is the “whole” of God’s Word Preached/taught there, does the Congregation welcome you, can you see the “fruit” of God’s Love in them? Then don’t just go (Pew potato), ‘get involved!’ And don’t expect anyone there to be any more ‘perfect’ than you…some are, many are not…a real church is a Spiritual Hospital where we get healed and strengthened and trained so we can work in the Harvest Field to win more to God’s Kingdom. By the way, that’s OUR Job, NOT the Pastor’s…his job is to prepare you, teach you, support you (hat tip to Pastor Joe), so YOU can go out and represent JESUS. OK, said my piece ‘for today’ about that…remember, it’s a position of the HEART and a DECISION of the MIND to come to God, and the ONLY WAY is through God’s Son…Yeshua (Jesus), God’s Chosen Messiah. Amen.
One Pilgrim's Journey 