How to Accept Jesus Christ
(and Stay with Him)
God love you so dearly. He adores you. You are precious to Him.
To be saved, you must repent of your sin and put your faith in Jesus for salvation. You must choose to love Jesus Christ. The desire of your heart should be to spend eternity with Jesus.
Honestly, don't make going to Heaven and avoiding Hell the reason you accept Jesus -- make being with Jesus the reason you accept Jesus. JESUS SHOULD BE YOUR ULTIMATE GOAL. After all, Jesus is Heaven. All the wonders and glorious beauty of Heaven IS Jesus. That beauty and peace is who He is. If all you get is to spend eternity sitting with Jesus on a rock and talking, that should be enough! The rest of Heaven is icing on the cake.
So, repent of your sinful ways, all the sin that is keeping you from God. Repentance is an active and continual turning away from your sin and going in a new direction. Put simply, stop sinning willingly! Yes, you will still sin because it's in your nature and Jesus will continually forgive you, but that is not an excuse to keep doing it (see Romans 6). STOP. Grow a desire to WANT to stop. Ask God to help you stop sinning. If you lie, stop lying. If you steal, stop stealing. If you hate, stop hating. If you don't forgive people, forgive them. If you drink to excess, knock it off. If you do drugs, throw them away. If your friends are bad for you, leave them. If you are sexually promiscuous, stop it. You know who you are. God honors the desire to stop sinning. But you have to WANT to stop for God's glory and for your love of Jesus.
And tell God you want to place your faith and trust Jesus as your Savior. Even if you've never prayed before! Praying is just talking to God - no rituals, no special words, just you talking to your Creator. Cry out to God that you believe in the finished work of Jesus, His death on the cross and His resurrection, for forgiveness of your sins. You've waited long enough. The candle is burning down. The sand is falling through the hourglass. You are not promised another day. More time is not an excuse to wait. Ask God to indwell you and renew you with the Spirit of Life, with Jesus Christ. You can do it! If you are sincere and mean business with God, He will hear you and accept your faith in Jesus. Then find a good Bible believing church who will strengthen you in your faith.
And remember...you must obey Jesus' commandment and keep your faith alive and strong until the end. Get a Bible and read! Study it. Love it. Cherish the Word. Find a solid Bible church and stay in the Word every day. I love you.
A Warning
After accepting Jesus Christ, you must stay faithful to God, continually forgive others (even if they don't ask!), and refrain from intentionally sinning. God can give you a heart to do this. Doing this means you really get it. It means you really understand God. Yes, you will continue to sin unintentionally and without knowing it. But intentional sin is different. Many Christians cling to "once saved, always saved", but that is a dangerous doctrine. The Bible doesn't specifically say that. If you truly understand how great the gift of salvation is, you will WANT to stay faithful to Jesus, WANT to always forgive others, and WANT to not intentionally sin. You can't play games with God. You can't fool Him. You can't just say the sinner's prayer and walk away. You must have a changed heart. God can change your heart.
"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." (Ezekiel 36:26)
You must understand how black your sin was! God is forgiving all of that. You should be even more forgiving to others! Think of it this way: salvation is God's forgiveness of a lifetime of sin. It is tremendous! It is unpayable. After receiving a lifetime of forgiveness from God, how can deny forgiveness to anyone? Nothing anyone can do to you is greater (or even close) to what you did to God. And how can you keep willfully sinning? That shows a lack of love towards Jesus. You are spitting on the gift He gave you. Take this seriously. Stay contrite and humble. Do it in love.
As it is written:
"For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." (Hebrews 10:26-31)
Do not take your salvation for granted!