The Two Great Constants (Factors) in Meeting God, how to become and how to stay a Christian, and clean up your life.
These apply to practically every situation in life.
There is little more really to be said about meeting God, that’s how it is done. That’s all He needs to act, and He wants to, He’s there in a flash with an ocean sized love. He’s knocking, waiting at the door of your heart, and promises to enter if anyone hears his voice and opens the door (Revelation 3:20). He actually comes and lives inside your heart.
For those wishing for the first time to meet God and invite The Lord Jesus into their lives as Lord, a very simple request addressed to The Lord Jesus admitting sin and asking to be saved is all that is necessary. “I’m sorry, Save me Jesus” does the trick.
No money needed, nor the services of any special person, just you and Him. There is no special place, no special act, no special time, nothing else, just a humble heart and a simple request, because everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved.
No arrogant or pride filled rebellious person can do this unless he swallows his pride, nor anyone with a false idol like money or fame, without giving up their treasured decoy. Liars who deceive themselves and others will not be able to make the admissions of sin and guilt necessary to meet God, and so, as God does not know them, they will be excluded from the Kingdom of God. Entry to the Kingdom of God is relationship based….you must know Jesus, having invited Him into your heart to gain admission, and receive all the benefits. It sounds like a club, doesn’t it, but everyone is welcome to join, only those who exclude themselves miss out, and they will be frustrated about that later, as there will be a cut-off time, after which no further entry will be possible. God is fair and just, those who never have heard about Him will be given a fair opportunity too, whether or not they have been honest about themselves (humble) and a seeker of the truth will matter….hmmm, that sequence again!
And for those who are already Christians, every time they sit down to meet with God, they need to follow the same principles for God to work in their lives, to remove the toxic sins that enslave the behaviour and to pray effectively to God on matters of concern.
Confessing particular/specific sins ( 1st John 1:9) (see the list in The Atheist Challenge) is particularly effective in cleaning up your heart, as deep hooks maybe in place that you may not be conscious of, although you can feel the pain. There are retreats/courses available such as “cleansing streams” which facilitate the private confession to God and personal seeking of God (recognise the sequence?) which, guess what……enables God to act for you and remove the damage. He’s not into embarrassment, unless it is a public sin, or you are a famous leader, another good reason not to want to be famous.
There can be really deep sins/injuries that can be too painful to dig up, or may even have an evil “facilitator” embedded (evil spirit), which external prayer is necessary to remove. Again God is not into public humiliation, and sometimes may administer a light anaesthetic for a short time while he repairs the damage to your spirit, heart, mind and body. Physical healing often accompanies the restoration of the higher centres of the mind, heart and soul (spirit).Being prayed for by some-one else can be tremendous, always worth getting, and side-effect free.
God says if anyone wants wisdom let him ask! God also says to ask for the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13), the source of God’s power in us. Furthermore, God says that you don’t have because you don’t ask, and not to ask to fulfil your own selfishness. God rewards those who seek Him, often in dramatic ways, like Rahab the prostitute. It’s a family of faith, not rules of behaviour which are powerless to restrain evil desires. Once your heart is healed, loving those around you becomes so much easier; in fact you can tell if some-one has genuinely invited Jesus into their heart by whether they sacrificially love those around them, there are plenty of liars out there.
Islam gives you rules, without the power to change the heart, because there is no other name apart from Jesus by which you can be saved or change yourself.
Buddhism hopes to improve the broken personality by meditation.
The Jews do not have the power of Jesus to transform themselves either.
And you cannot help anyone else until you yourself have been fixed, and know how to fix yourself if you stumble again.
Any recurring thoughts or emotions or addictive behaviour patterns can be tamed by applying 2nd Corinthians 10:4-5: “…and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ”. This really works…..say it about any intrusive thoughts that are not peace-loving…..“I take captive the thought about …..(insert thought here)…. to make it obedient to Christ”. It’s the best way to deal with any obsessive, intrusive, evil thoughts (that bring you down) ever invented.
It’s so simple. Humbling yourself is clearly so right, humble people (not false humility where arrogant people pretend to be humble) are so much better than arrogant people to be around. Take it from me, once you meet God, being humble (whilst still tricky at times) gets a whole lot easier as you realise how amazing He is, and you have had your own heart cleaned up. Then you get to see other people’s hearts being cleaned up too. Ashes get turned into beauty, broken lives are give purpose and meaning again, you too can become part of what God wants to do here on the broken planet earth.