Photography copyright 2011
When I first attended Bible study, I heard the women say they were thankful for Jesus’ sacrifice and that they had assurance of going to heaven. I said to them, “Wait a minute, how can you be so sure? What if I kill someone five years from now, would I still go to heaven?” My thinking was, if you sin, you lose your salvation. That’s why in my example I came up with a serious type of crime such as murder.
My friends pointed out that all sin separates us from our Holy God. Lying, pride, envy are all sin too. And the list goes on and on—sin is sin. No matter what kind of wrong I might commit in the future, Jesus had paid the price at the cross. All I needed was to sincerely repent and ask God for forgiveness.
They assured me that the same day I invited Jesus into my heart I became a child of God, received salvation, forgiveness and the promise of eternal life. This was hard for me to accept. It sounded too easy. I said, “There has to be more I should do—I have to be good all the time.” A friend lovingly said, “Guadalupe, are you saying Jesus’ sacrifice and death wasn’t good enough and that you have to add to it?”
Another friend asked me, “How many times does Jesus have to die on the cross to keep on forgiving you?” She showed me in Scripture where it says Jesus died once and for all.
Hebrews 7:27 says, “Unlike the other high priests, He does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for His own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once and for all when He offered himself.”
This amazing verse made perfect sense. Of course, we need to repent of our sins and ask God to help us not continue to sin, but the Word of God assures us that eternal life is obtained by faith in Jesus, the Son of God, not by our behavior.
(Excerpt from my book, Chapter 3, "How Do You Love God With All Your Heart?" Copyright 2011)
During my years as a Bible study leader, I’ve listened to many people express their guilt for past sins. Even though they’ve asked God for forgiveness, they continued to carry burdens that according to the Word of God, no longer exist.
Think for example of a child who says to his parent that he’s sorry and truly repents for what he has done. The parent forgives the son, but the son still goes on the rest of his life feeling heavy with guilt and shame. The parent no longer remembers what the child did because he forgave him. That’s an example of how God is with us.
After repenting and asking God for His forgiveness, I still carried guilt, until I realized this meant I didn’t fully accept God’s forgiveness.
We need to be able to believe and accept His total forgiveness—He wants us to. (Excerpt from my book, Chapter 3, "How Do You Love God With All Your Heart?" Copyright 2011)
It took me years to understand that eternal
life was given to me as a “free” gift.
Have you ever heard of a gift that isn’t free? God loves us so much, He
wants to make sure we “get it” by telling us His gift is “free”— no strings
attached. We can’t earn eternal life, it’s given to us the minute we place our
faith in Jesus.
There are many religions that believe people
have to do many good deeds in order to go to heaven. The truth is we can’t make
it on our own effort. Our righteousness comes from God through the sacrifice of
His Son, Jesus. He is the only way to the Father. Look at the thief at the
cross. How many good deeds did the thief have to do to enter paradise? None!
Yet he received this response from Jesus, “
I
tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke
23:43),
because he believed Jesus was truly who He said He was, the Son of God.
I love pleasing God in all that I do. But it
comes from a heart filled with love and gratitude instead of fear or
obligation. We cannot earn our salvation. We’re saved by faith and grace alone.
The Bible says, we’ll be rewarded for our good deeds— however my greatest
reward will be to kiss the hands and feet of Jesus! (Excerpt from my book, Chapter 3, "How Do You Love God With All Your Heart?" Copyright 2011)
Here are some Bible passages that assure us of forgiveness and eternal life:
Ephesians 2:8-9 “For it is by
grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is
the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 10:9 “That if you
confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God
raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Colossians 2:13-14
“When you
were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God
made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all
our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was
against us and that stood opposed to us; He took it away, nailing it to the
cross.”
Isaiah 1:18
“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.
John 5:24
“I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life."
John 8:36
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
This is only a small section of my chapter and just a few verses, where I explain salvation and the assurance of eternal life.
Today, by placing
your faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, you can become a son or daughter of
God. Read the following prayer. You may want to read it aloud and sign your
name. By doing this, you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. When you
repent of your sins, you will receive His complete forgiveness and the
assurance of eternal life.
After you do this,
you can celebrate and literally jump up and down out of joy from now knowing
where you’ll spend eternity! Jesus said, "I
tell you the truth, whoever hears my Word and believes Him who sent me has
eternal life and will not be
condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”-
John 5:24.
PRAYER TO INVITE JESUS INTO YOUR HEART
LORD JESUS,
I
BELIEVE BY FAITH YOU ARE THE SON OF GOD
THAT
YOU DIED FOR ME ON THE CROSS
AND GOD RAISED YOU FROM THE DEAD.
I
REPENT OF ALL MY SINS… EVEN THE ONES I HAVE ALREADY FORGOTTEN.
I
SURRENDER TO YOU.
I
INVITE YOU TO COME INTO MY HEART
AS
MY PERSONAL LORD AND SAVIOR.
THANK
YOU FOR WASHING AWAY ALL OF MY
SINS
AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR GIFT
OF ETERNAL LIFE.
PLEASE
HELP ME TO FOLLOW YOU
AND TO DO YOUR WILL
ALL THE DAYS OF MY LIFE!
IT
IS IN YOUR NAME, LORD JESUS, I PRAY. AMEN!!!
_______________________________________
Sign &
Date
The word "condemn" means to pronounce guilty and to convict. When we are in
Christ, we are free from condemnation—Glory to God!
Romans 8:1 says,“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for
those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Celebrate with this YouTube Video song, "I Am Free"
Photo and blog are excerpts from my book, "How Do You Love God With All Your Heart?" Copyright 2011
Guadalupe C. Casillas
