Forgiven beloved, hidden in Christ, made in the image of the giver of life,

Righteous and Holy, reborn and remade, accepted and worthy.

This is who we are now.

But tonight I was reading to my four-year-old her nightly devotion before bed from her pink Bob and Larry devotional book. As I’m reading along the book starts talking about “accepting Jesus” and of course, I think quickly, and change it to something like “trust Jesus” or cling to him.

I just have a real problem with the whole concept of how we need to “accept” Jesus as our “personal” Lord and Savior.

None of this has anything to do with what  the Scriptures teach us.

First of all, Jesus is not our “personal” Lord and Savior … as if you were a Genie in a bottle … He is the God of heaven and the King of the universe.

Just like in Matthew 9:27-29 when Jesus healed the blind men. He didn’t ask, “Do you accept me as your personal Lord and Savior?”

Jesus said. “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”

And when they said, “yes Lord.” He didn’t say, “OK, now repeat this ridiculous prayer after me.”

Mark 16:14 is clear as can be.

“He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”

Scripture teaches us that even our belief in God is a gift given to us from God and also that “faith comes from hearing the word of God.”

If only God can give faith, there is no need to lead someone through a prayer that doesn’t really mean anything to them anyway. When God gives faith and a person reaches out to Jesus like someone who is drowning gasping for air …salvation takes place and the angels of heaven rejoice.

When they reach that point their heart will cry out to God.

This can happen within the heart without a word ever being said. (Please note that I do believe a public confession of faith is necessary and will take place if a true conversion has happened.)

I wonder how many people have been turned away and turned off because of aggressive Bible thumpers trying to sell “accept Jesus and say this prayer” when a few simple words pointing them to the cross without any other expectation might have caused them to look in his direction in an act of faith and say “help me Jesus” which is the most perfect prayer that I can imagine.

It was a great delusion to think that the times of prayer ought to differ from other times; that we are as strictly  obligated to adhere to God by action in the time of action as by prayer in the season of prayer. His prayer was nothing else but a sense of the presence of God, his soul being at that time insensible to everything but divine love; and when the appointed times of prayer were past, he found no difference, because he still continued with God, praising and blessing Him with all his might. so that he passed his life in continual joy;

I also believe that there does not need to be any separation between our spiritual life and our regular life. Everything we do can become an act of worship if done for the love of God and offered up to  Him. There should not be anything more spiritual about worshiping in church on Sunday morning or washing dishes after dinner if our hearts and minds are on the things of God. Yes, this is actually very Zen like if anyone is familiar with Zen teachings but it is true and helpful in our walk with God.

I rejoice in being exactly what I am, a creature capable of loving God, and who, as long as God lives, must be happy. I get up and look for a while out the window, and gaze at the moon and stars, the work of an Almighty hand.

I think of the grandeur of the universe, and then sit down, and think myself one of the happiest beings in it.

By A Poor Methodist Woman, 18th Century

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

I recently had Galatians 2:20 tattooed on my side.  It was an extremely painful tattoo by the way but that scripture is very special to me. I find freedom in realizing that the power to love others as much as I love myself comes from God and not me.  I am not naturally a very loving person and tend to seek out what is best for me and those close to me. But to follow Jesus and live out the red letters is to share the love of God with even those who are not very lovable.  But loving God and our neighbor is exactly what being a Christian is all about.

There is nothing else.

With this new perspective of being dead to the world and Christ living through us we can be free to allow God’s love to express itself.

It is as if Christians in their desire to measure their progress in “saving souls” came up with this as a means to keep score. When someone says the prayer they can mark down another soul saved.

This is crap pure and simple. I have seen it myself. Some Christians are aggressive about pressuring people to say this prayer as if once they do the sinner will be saved.

Over and over again in scripture references Jesus taught that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life. The Amplified Bible translates believes as “who clings to, trusts in, relies on Him.” We also know that “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:44)

Paul also teaches in Romans that only God can give faith. It is a gift from God and not a decision we can make.

My point is that when a person is convicted of sin and ready to reach out to Jesus their heart will cry out for him whether they say those words we commonly call the Sinner Prayer or not. They will reach out for Jesus and God will fill their heart with faith, love and hope and salvation will take place. This is not to say that we should not preach the Word of God. By all means we should. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God but there is no sense in trying to talk someone into converting and saying a prayer their hear does not believe. It is a waste of time and a lie.

Anyone reading this who was searching for a sinner’s prayer because you are desperate for help from God then know this. He is right there where you are. Call out to Jesus and He will reach down from heaven and love you right now. There is nothing more to it than that.

]]> http://www.nobsjustjesus.com/sinners-prayer/feed/ 0 http://www.nobsjustjesus.com/save-me-from-myself-by-brian-head-welch/ http://www.nobsjustjesus.com/save-me-from-myself-by-brian-head-welch/#comments Tue, 30 Dec 2008 23:14:57 +0000 Admin http://www.nobsjustjesus.com/?p=34 I was recently reading  book called Save Me From Myself by Brian “Head” Welch, former lead guitarist of Korn, and was stuck by something he said.  This book is an amazing testimony of the love of Jesus and His power to give life and freedom to the oppressed.

Brian writes,

“ I needed Jesus to  be real. He was my only hope that I had left…. I had so much hope, but it quickly faded away when I thought about being a Christian. “

That statement says a lot about why I have said that I have considered giving up Christianity in order that I might follow Jesus.  Brian was reaching out for Jesus and one of the things holding him back was the picture he had in his mind of what it means to be a Christian.   Brian is now a Christian and his new CD has a song called Die Religion Die. The CD rocks by the way if you are into heavy metal music.

I recently published a post on my blog called “Giving Up Christianity” saying I had decided to give up Christianity to follow Jesus .  Not surprisingly, I had various comments from well meaning Christians “correcting” me on the meaning of the term Christian and how what I really meant was that “religion” gets in the way of people coming to Jesus. Christian of course simply means follower of Christ and so on.

People often like to get hung up on the meaning of words while missing the real meaning of what someone is saying. You see, to all of the world, Christianity is a religion and one of the most self-centered, intolerant, and judgmental religions that has ever existed.

Being a Christian myself I agree with those criticisms. Christianity in this country at least is too focused on itself and the only time it seems to have an interest in those outside the church is to make converts. I once saw a sign on a church that said 24 souls saved this week” and I thought God have mercy.  How pathetic.  As if the church was a sales organization keeping score of how well their marketing and advertising was working.

People see Christianity as a religion of rules and not of love. Ask those outside the church what Christianity is about and I would bet that no one would say “loving God and our fellow man.” Yet, that was what Jesus taught was the essence of true religion – to love God and your neighbor as yourself.  Now without a doubt, I will receive a comment from someone who will say “Oh no, you are incorrect, the Bible says that pure religion undefiled by God is to look after widows and orphans” … (James 1:27).

That is what I am talking about. Lighten up and seek God with a pure heart and then let’s go into the world and look for ways to love Jesus in every person we meet.

I was shocked to learn that while there are 6,912 languages currently spoken in the world there are only 429 languages with a complete Bible and 4,486 languages have no scriptures at all!

Learn more about Kory and Cara Fay how you can help give thousands of people access to the Word of God at Kory and Cara’s blog. Click Here

I could go off on a rant here and I have a lot to say about this issue but I will leave it at this. AMEN and AMEN! John could not have said it better in his book, Life As A Vapor.