Receiving Christ?

Hi, I'm Jason... A Christian Developer who has been studying and coding out the bible for about 3 years now. I know that there are so many terms used in Christianity that can be confusing to new believers or those seeking to know more about Jesus. I hear this phrase a ton: “Receive Jesus Christ as your Savior.” “Receive Christ”? What exactly does it mean to “receive” Jesus? Jesus lived, died, and rose again over two thousand years ago, what does it mean to “receive” Him now?

God planned a life of peace and satisfaction for us through Jesus Christ. But we first must be in His family to fulfill the plan He has for us and for us to go to Heaven. Salvation is not about being a good person, stopping bad behaviors, or whether you attend church or not. It’s about you making a conscious decision to go in a different direction and to let Jesus Christ be your Lord. Here are the steps:

REPENT Make a firm inward decision to go in a different direction followed by an outward act to carry out that decision.

BELIEVE Believe on Jesus as Lord and that He died for your sins and rose from the dead so you could have everlasting life in a permanent relationship with God, the Father.

CALL Call on Jesus to come into your heart by faith.

CONFESS Confess that Jesus Christ is Lord of your life. According to Romans 10:9-10, 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. If you would like for Jesus to save you, then say this prayer out loud to God:

Dear God, I recognize that I am a sinner and need Jesus as my Savior. I believe Jesus died for my sins and was raised from the dead. I repent and turn to Jesus. I receive Jesus as my Savior and confess You as my Lord. Thank you Jesus for saving me. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

John 1:11–12 speaks of receiving Jesus and defines the term: “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” John equates “receiving” Jesus with “believing” in Him, which results in one’s becoming a child of God. So, receiving Jesus has to do with faith. We trust who Jesus is and what He has done on our behalf.

When we “receive” a birthday present, we accept it with gladness and embrace it. When a wide receiver “receives” the football, he pulls it to himself and clings to it. When we “receive” Jesus, we take Him into our heart and cling to the truth about Him... which means we begin a journey of getting to know the truth about Jesus. And adopt a responsability to do so in order that we may spread His word properly and know what it is that we are talking about when it comes to the fullness of Christ.

To receive Jesus as our Savior means we look to Him and Him alone as the One who forgives our sin, mends our relationship with God, and provides us entrance to heaven. To reject Him as Savior means we either don’t believe we need salvation or are looking to another deliverer. Scripture is plain, however, that “salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). To receive Jesus as our Lord means we let go of the lesser gods we have built our lives around. We may know the facts about Jesus as detailed in the Bible—we can even acknowledge the truth of those facts—without being a part of God’s family. We cannot receive Jesus as Lord without displacing the idols in our lives—idols such as power, popularity, wealth, or comfort that we trust to provide us with purpose and strength. Jesus described the need to follow Him wholeheartedly in Luke 9:23: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” When Jesus visited His hometown of Nazareth, the people there did not believe He was anything other than the son of Mary and Joseph (Matthew 13:54–58; see also John 6:41–42). They accepted Him as a local carpenter but rejected Him as the promised Messiah. Many people today do a similar thing. They accept Jesus as a good moral teacher, a role model, or even a prophet who can teach us about God. But they stop short of receiving Him as their personal Lord and Savior. They do not commit their faith to Him. Receiving Jesus is a matter of one’s eternal destiny: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” (John 3:16–18). To receive Jesus means we acknowledge that He is who He said He is (1 John 5:10; Matthew 27:43; John 20:31). He is the Son of God who took on human form (Philippians 2:6–8), was born of a virgin (Luke 1:26–38), lived a perfect life (Hebrews 4:15), and accomplished in full God’s plan to rescue mankind from sin (Matthew 1:18; 1 Peter 1:20; John 19:30; 2 Corinthians 5:18–21). To receive Jesus is to trust that His sacrifice on the cross completely paid for our sin and to believe that God raised Him from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:3–5, 20; 2 Timothy 2:8). To receive Jesus is to recognize that we are sinners separated from a holy God (Romans 3:23; 6:23; Ephesians 2:1–3). To receive Jesus is to call out to Him in faith, trusting that only His blood can cleanse us from sin and restore us to a right relationship with God (Ephesians 2:4–10; 1 John 1:7; Hebrews 10:19–22). Those who receive Jesus by faith are given “the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God” (John 1:12–13). When we receive Jesus as our Savior, God sends us the gift of His Holy Spirit who enters our spirits and begins to transform us to be more like Christ (Romans 8:29; John 14:26; Luke 24:49; Ephesians 1:13–14; Philippians 2:12–13). Jesus called this transaction being “born again” (John 3:3–8). When a baby is born, a new creature emerges that did not previously exist. Over time, that baby begins to look and act like the parents. So it is when we are born of the Spirit by receiving Jesus. We become children of God and begin to look and act more like our heavenly Father (Matthew 5:48; 2 Corinthians 5:17; 7:1; Ephesians 5:1). Receiving Jesus Christ into our lives is more than adding Him to an already cluttered priority list. He does not offer the option of being only a part of our lives. When we receive Him, we pledge to Him our allegiance and look to Him as the undisputed Lord of our lives (Luke 6:46; John 15:14). We will still disobey His commands at times (1 John 1:8–10). But the Holy Spirit within us draws us to repentance so that our close fellowship with God is restored (Psalm 51:7). Receiving Jesus is the beginning of a lifetime of discovery and an eternity of bliss in heaven with Him (John 3:36; Revelation 21—22). I am honored to have pledged to Him my allegiance, and am praying that You do as well.

( Romans 10:9-10 ) "If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved."

( John 1:12 ) But to ALL who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to be called children of God

( Mark 1:13 ) "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel"

God's Remedy For Our Sin

( Romans 6:23 ) "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

( Ephesians 2:8-9 ) "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is NOT your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."

Do you have to be baptized?

Do you have to be baptized to go to heaven? While Jesus told Nicodemus, “Amen, Amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit” (John 3:5), he did not set baptism as a hindrance to salvation but just the opposite. We so often judge things by human standards, but God is not restrained by our standards

Clarification on the subject of salvation, I feel it to be of utmost importance wouldn't ya know it LOL....but just to be clear I DO believe that one DOES need to be BORN AGAIN ....and no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Now then, that is where it gets to the discernment part right? So, what does he MEAN when He says "unless they are born of water and the Spirit."? Does that mean baptism? Or is being born again and baptism two separate events? I believe that they are. I know that I did NOT have to wait until I got in the water to receive a new heart, it came as soon as I first believed and called Him my savior, That moment was my salvation!!! Praise God forever and ever! Lastly, baptism IS somethhing that we NEED to do because clearly EVERYONE who becomes a disciple gets baptized if you listen to Jesus' command right at the very end of the gospel...MATTHEW 28:19 "therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit". So it is the next logical step to be baptized after one becomes saved by calling on the name of the Lord Yeshua.

The Lord's Prayer

(Matthew 6:9-13): “'Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.

The Sinner's Prayer

If you are not quite ready or are not sure if you want to take that leap of faith, I want to invite you to check out this blog post: How to be saved. But if you feel Jesus knocking on your heart and you are ready to say yes to Him, just talk to Him and ask Him to come in your heart and be your Lord and savior. If you need help praying here is a little prayer you can say. Dear GOD, I know that I am a sinner & I ask you to forgive my sins. I believe in my heart that Jesus is your son; That He died for me on o cross and that You raised Him back to life. Jesus, I declare that You are my Lord and open my heart to You. Change me and help me to follow you all the days of my life. Help me to do your will. In Jesus name I pray. AMEN. This prayer will also work..."God I believe everything that you say about Yourself and Your son Jesus, and your Holy Spirit that I read in your Word. And I want, I need, I am asking for You to come into my heart and trasform my mind in a way that only You can. And to do a marvelous thing in me that leads me to honor You and the great gospel of the coming of the long awaited King of Kings. It is an honor to receive you as my gracious and loving Father, my Savior and my eternal companion in Your Holy Spirit. You are the one and only God, three in one and Only one. I accept the free gift of salvation that you gave us when you died on that cross. Thank you heavenly Father for saving us from the coming wrath and showering us with your everlasting love and companionship." If you said either one of those prayers and meant it with all your heart, then I want to be the first one to welcome you to the family of God! I promise you He is the best Father ever!!!

A Word from the Publisher

Well, if you have made it this far I am assuming that Jesus has infiltrated your stubborn and rebelious heart ( dont worry I bet mine was just as stubborn as yours ) and given you a new birth in His infinite wisdom through the death and resurection of His one and only son, into an inheritance that shall never fade, never spoil and never perish. God continue to bless this Disciple and give them what they have been asking for in earnest in Jesus name. Amen