Sinner saved by Grace

15 April 2007 is the day when I commited my life to Jesus fully. Since that day, I found peace in my heart, no more condemnation, no more guilt, no more being enemy of God, but I became child of God. Since that day, God put His Spirit upon me, everything around me totally changed. My thought, my mind, my attitude, my reasoning, and especially my life. I am a new creation, there was radical change in my life. People could feel it, there is a regeneration happened in my life.

I am no more prodigal son, lived in the mud of sins and ate with pigs. I am now child of Living God, King of kings, Lord of lords, but on the other hand, I submit to Him, I now become slave to righteousness. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20).

Based on my experience, to be children of God is the easiest thing people in the world can do. You don't need to be rich, clever, famous, good looking to be His children. God doesn't care about that, He sees our heart, not appearance. It is so easy that even the person who lives in the jungle or illiterate can also be children of God. It is free for anybody, it is Gift of God, no matter how great is your sins, God is merciful. He said, "Come now, let us reason together, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool (Isaiah 1:18).

He is universal God, He shows no favoritism, He is not respecter of persons. You can be European, American, Australian, Asian, African, or whatever you are, female or male, bond or free, circumcision nor uncircumcision, but Christ is all, and in all (Galatians 3:28, Colossians 3:11). He will accept you whoever you are, in fact He will arrange a feast in heaven and angels will blow their trumpets if sinner got saved.

You now become God's interest. If during this time, you lived far from Him, now you are so close to Him, no more barrier of sins. He gives you the purpose of your life, specially designed for you. He know and give everything you need before you ask. He hold your hands when you are weak, He stand beside you when you fear and worry and said "Be still, my child, for I am with you". You are not alone anymore, you have the Creator of this universe as your Father, your Friend. Who can stand against you? He is the only person in this life that faithful and never tell lies. He is full of compassion and love. What a privilege to be children of God. He is the One who will change you from sinner to winner, from nothing to His precious creation, you are after His heart.

But on the other side, it is the most difficult thing to do. You have to surrender ALL, you have to make commitment, you have to renounce your sinful life, you have to leave your past and any entaglements that you know inside your heart that it is wrong but brings a lot of pleasure to your flesh. Is it difficult, my friends? The answer is: YES, it is very very difficult.

• If during this time, you live in sin with your sinful partner, so-called boy/girl-friend, you need to ask his/her forgiveness and start refresh with godly life, or probably you need to leave him/her if he/she reject you.
• If during this time, you have affair with your "second" wife or husband, you have to leave her/him and go back to your family. Ask forgiveness from them.
• If during this time, you manipulate taxes or gain money with evil business, e.g: fraud, money-laundry, cheating people, etc, you need to give up all of them and even more, you need to give retribution to those people you cheated, you probably go bankrupt, mocked, etc. You should learn from Zacchaeus' case where he gave half of his possesions to the poor and paid back four times the amount.
• If during this time, you live in peace with unbelievers, you will now find a lot of noise. They will forsake you. Your best friends with whom you always speaks idle, foul words, dirty jokes will now can't stand the heat you bring. One by one they will leave you, even your own family. Your husband, your wife, your parents, your children, or those who can't stand the heat, will forsake you. You will find that you are now different, you are children of light and they still live in their sins, they are still children of darkness.
• Once you have a lot of idols, e.g: football players, football club, beautiful singers, good actresses, etc, but now you see them differently. You see them as the ones who need Christ, you don't "worship" them any longer, but pity them. They have everything, but something is still missing in their lives, they need Jesus.
• Once you were full of yourself, but now you are bought by God through His precious blood. He can do anything He wants to you, you don't have any right of yourself. If people put you in prison, if your hands are handcuffed, if people mocked you, if people hated you because of Jesus, you have to carry your own cross. You will face persecution and as I said before, your life will become full of noise.

You begin to think like Jesus, to be Christ-like and Apostle Paul is the best example for it. You will find that you walk in the same path as Jesus walked, according to your faithfulness. If you only can bear for 2 talents, He will give you 2 talents, if you can bear 5, He will give you 5. The more you have, the more He demand something for you, and the more His grace fall upon you. He knows the best for you. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12).

Only a few people who can stand till the end. Many people have tried to enter this narrow gate, but they can't stand the heat too. This path is so narrow, you must carefully observe His word daily, speak to Him daily, ask His guidance daily so you will find a way to enter His Kingdom.

Maybe at this moment, you seem so happy to be called Children of God. I rejoice with you. But on the same time, I want to tell you the parable of the sower. I know that right now you heard His calling, you are happy and accepted it, but how long can you stand? What if trouble and persecution come, will your faith not last only a short time because you have no root? What if worries of this life and the deceitfulness a wealth choke you, will you still stand firm in the faith?

I am so sad to see Christians today. Many of them don't understand the cost of following Jesus. Many of them trample the Son of God under foot, many of them treated the blood of Jesus as an unholy thing many of them insulted the Spirit of grace. They do not know that it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God. Many of them are joking with God, deliberately keep on sinning. Commited sins, repent, commit again, repent again, commit again, repent again for the same sins for their whole life. Woe to you, don't call yourself Christian if you do that! You have no right to be called Christian, you are children of darkness! Repent and get everything right with God. God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, you are stumbling block for others. It is better for you to put on yourself milestone and throw yourself into the sea.

If you want to be Christian, if you really love Jesus, if you really want to be saved, do according to His commandment, His command is not burdensome if you walked with Jesus. But it would be very difficult and impossible if you want to do it alone. You need His grace, you need His power, You need His blessing. You are saved because of grace through faith. It is gift of God. Do you know what "gift" means? Think about it yourselves.

If you try your best without God's help. I believe you will fail. What you need to do is always listen to Him, ask His guidance, read His Word and follow Him. Holy Spirit inside you will help, so if you are Christian, but never read Bible, never pray, never have fellowship with believers, stop calling yourself as Christian. You are not. You still a sinner, you need Jesus. Repent and have faith in Jesus Christ.

Again, based on experience and other people' testimonies. Giving your life to Christ is the best thing in the world people can have. You will be satisfied fully. You will have purpose of living. Emptiness inside your heart are filled. You have everything you need for God will provide you. He knows the best for you. I will offer you my head if you can find the genuine born again Christians who say that they regret accepting Jesus in their lives. I mean it, my friends.

Do you want to be saved and have peace with God? Do you want to be His child? Do you want to know the purpose of your life?

If you really mean it with all your heart, you don't need to read book, to plan your life for 40 days or so, to go to sacred place or even worse, go to priest or pastor. Who are they? Are they God? Can they forgive your sins? So, my friends, if you really want to settle things and make everything right with God, just pray a "sinner prayer". There is no rule or beautiful words that you need to follow. Just pray with your heart. He will listen.

The moment before I was born again, I just prayed a "sinner prayer" with all my heart, without any objection toward God, just have faith like a child. admitted my sins and my incapability to fight alone. I believed that Jesus, the Son of God, is able to do that. I believe that He has died for me on the cross and His resurrection power give me hope of eternal life, death is no longer overpower me. And in the end, I said "Do according to your will for I am yours". And I become Children of God since that day.

Honestly, I have done this more than 3 times in my life, but still I was overcome by devil since I just wanted to be saved, not subjected to God. I know that there are a lot of people like that, they want to be saved, but refuse to be ruled. Do you think God will give His Spirit to such a person? The answer is NO. I can prove it with my life. I was no difference with unbelievers, even worse. I still serve 2 masters and can't do what is right. It happened because I just want to be saved. At that moment Jesus is my Saviour, but not my King. But thanks be to God, He still called me back home. If you are in the same position like that, I am sorry to say straightly to you, "You are a sinner, you will go to hell, you are not children of God yet".

God is waiting for you. Today is your turn. But remember, it is the easiest thing to do but also the hardest thing to face. If you need time to think, think about it carefully. It is the point that decide to where your next destination afterlife be: heaven or hell, children of God or children of darkness, eternal life or eternal damnation. If you want to go to heaven, sooner or later you need to face it, you need to make this commitment.

There is a story in the Bible, where the Roman noble named Festus and Agrippa listened to Paul's powerful preaching. It talked about salvation and commit their life to Jesus. And in that decision point, Festus stopped him and said, "You are out of your mind, Paul, your great learning is driving you insane". And king Agrippa also said, "Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?"

Both of them were convinced by the Spirit of God, but their high position, stature, their ego prevented them. They were not ready to give their life for Christ even until they died. They went to hell straightly. How about you? Sooner or later you have to face it and if you think you want to enjoy a bit for some more time first. I can see that you are people who lack of ambition, why enjoy a bit, not fully? For the Jesus said, "Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole (Luke 8:50). Why don't you eager to have your life made whole in Jesus Christ?

God bless you