If you’re anything like I was, you’ve avoided the thought of death because the idea of what comes after scares you. That was me for twenty-nine years, but let me share with you how that changed.
The only way to be certain you’ll go to heaven when you die, is by recognising that you actually can’t get there on your own. Nobody gets there on their own, we all need help because none of us are perfect. Recognising this is key, as humble recognition is what allows God to step in and save us.
As someone who was a proud Atheist for years, the mention of Jesus would have had me click right out of this post had I been the one reading. So, if that’s you, I get it. BUT, I was wrong to believe God, satan, heaven and hell were not real. I’m just grateful I found truth this side of eternity, and you can too.
The First Step to Securing Your Place in Heaven When You Die
As we start this journey to truth, it’s important to remind every reader that each and every one of us will face the reality of our own imminent death. Nobody escapes this.
Personally, my life was one chaotic party, which included a lot of booze, weed, men and folly. It wasn’t until I encountered the demonic realm, where I was physically attacked by two demons, that I came to a place where I was desperate enough and fearful for my life, that I cried out to God.
It was in this place of desperation that I realized that even if it meant that I had to admit that I was wrong about God and His existence, that I would rather be wrong and live, than die thinking I was right, and end up in hell because of my own stupid pride.
Step One; You have to be willing to ask yourself this very real question;
“Do I believe that Jesus is real, and if I don’t believe, am I willing to consider that I might be wrong?”
My guess is that, since you’re still reading, your answer to this might not be, ‘Yes Jesus is real,’ but it is likely that you’ve come to a place in your life where you are comfortable (or, like I was, desperate enough) to admit that you may have been wrong.
This is fantastic, because in this case, I believe that Holy Spirit is speaking to you, drawing you to Jesus and slowly revealing truth to your heart.
The Holy Spirit is the only one who is able to convince man of Salvation through and in Jesus. We – Christians preaching the Gospel – all we can do is share the message, but it is Holy Spirit who will breath on that, bringing life and restoration to every part of you!
Step Two: Encountering Jesus
It’s Time to Find a Quiet Place, and Ask Jesus to Reveal Himself to You
You can have many people tell you about Jesus, trying to convince you that He is real, and it in all likelihood may do nothing for you!
I have license to say this, because it was my story! Many people told me about Jesus; Who He was and what He did. The problem was, I never saw Jesus – His Character these people always spoke about – in anyone who was preaching about Him!
As such, I thought to myself, ‘what a bunch of hypocrites, it’s not even working for them… why would I want what they have!’
I don’t want that to be your story!
I want you to have an encounter with Jesus like I did. An undeniable encounter that nobody can ever take away, or try and convince you it didn’t happen. A real encounter with Jesus changes everything, and all it takes is a heart truly seeking truth.
That is what step two is about. I’d encourage you to read this post fully before embarking on step two, to give your heart and mind time to prepare for anything God might want to say. At the bottom of the post, I’ll put each step together in order for you, to make for easy referencing.
Encountering Jesus; Find a quiet place, and from the bottom of your heart, I want you to pray this prayer;
“God, for whatever reason, I’ve never really believed that You are real, or that following Jesus is the way. I’ve been confused and unsure, maybe even a bit stubborn, but one thing I do know is, I’m scared.
I’m scared of being wrong, and I don’t want to let my pride stop me from finding out the truth about your existence and ability to save me. If you are real, I want to know.
So right now, God, I’m asking you to come and touch me. Reveal yourself to me in a way that I can’t deny. Convict me of my sin God; make me understand in my heart my sin nature, and that I truly am in need of a Savior, having not met the mark of perfection on my own.”
You see, in order to come to Jesus, one has to surrender. It is so hard to surrender to God when we don’t understand who we are and what we’ve done. That’s why I ask you to pray this prayer, because Jesus is a gentleman. He will never force Himself upon you, but if you truly ask Him, He will show you who you are, and it won’t be something you can deny or ignore. This is where conviction of sin comes in, and that takes us to step three.
Step Three: Understanding Conviction and Asking God for Forgiveness
When He shows you your sin, conviction will run deep into your heart, but His love, mercy and grace will wash away that pain and replace it with hope and joy for your future.
The evening I truly asked God to reveal Himself to me, I was all alone in my apartment and desperate for truth. When I cried out to Him, His presence came into the room so strongly that it became a very messy, all night event that had my eyes swollen shut from crying with my face in the carpet.
I’d always thought I was a good person, because I had tried to help people… I’d given money to charities, helped with different fund-raising events, and I thought that these types of things ‘qualified’ me. I was wrong. When the Holiness of God came into that room, I realized, felt, the chasm between us that my sin nature had created, and in that moment I knew;
No good work or deed could ever bridge the gap. I simply couldn’t do it on my own.
An encounter with Jesus is different for everyone. Personally, I see things in the realm of the spirit, and when Jesus came into the room that day, I went into a vision;
I saw myself as a very young little girl, and I saw different stages of my life as I grew older. It was like I was seeing a little clip of different events in my life. I saw myself stealing to fund an alcohol and cigarette habit, I saw myself lying, I saw myself sleeping with many different men and breaking up marriages.
And then I felt God’s heart. The pain it caused Him, to see me cause so much pain to others, it was unbearable;
A wave of conviction came over me that I couldn’t ignore. I’d never felt the weight of what I’d done, and it changed everything. It utterly broke me. I spent the night crying in remorse, with my face buried in a shag rug on my living room floor.
It was here that I encountered God’s Love, Mercy and Grace.
It felt as if He had stepped into that mini-clip of my life, and removed every bit of pain from those memories and washed me clean. Each event – it was as if they had never happened. While I had the memory, the guilt, shame and turmoil disappeared the moment I recognized how wrong I was to have done them, and truly repented for my sin.
The moment I repented and recognised my need for Jesus to fill the gap, was the moment I was enclosed in His love, mercy, grace and forgiveness. He didn’t make me work for it; He gave it freely the moment I realized I needed it.
It is in that place that I now live, surrounded by His love, mercy, grace and forgiveness. His love compels me to live a life for and in Him. When you feel completely loved and accepted by someone, it is not hard to give yourself fully to that person.
You will, I trust, see in time that once you’ve encountered the love of God, you don’t obey the Lord to gain His love, but rather, you obey Him because you received it when you least deserved it. It is His kindness, mercy, grace, love and forgiveness that compels you to repentance, compels you to live a life fully submitted to Him, and it isn’t hard. It is not something I’ve had to strive for. I wanted to love Him with my whole being, because He loved me first.
However, for this to happen, you first have to recognise who you are; a sinner in need of a savior, Jesus. Hence why step two and three are crucial.
Step Four; Understanding the Sin Nature, and What Jesus Did in Order to Receive Him
Humans have a sin nature. Try as you may, there is something in you that wages war against living a holy life, and doing the right thing. That ‘thing’ is the sin nature, and it is the result of the fall of man when Adam and Eve made the decision to eat the fruit in the Garden of Eden.
Basically, you’re not a sinful person because you make the wrong choices, you make the wrong choices because of the sin nature in you, that you were born with because of the fall of man thousands of years ago.
Young, old, male or female, the sin nature is there in every one of us. Consider a 3-year-old child. Nobody taught him or her to be selfish, but have another child try play with their toy – the sin nature rises up and takes over. The sin nature is the dominant factor in the life of every person – until they give their lives to Christ, that is.
The key is to recognise this.
We all have sin in our lives. You may not personally have stolen, committed a murder or had an adulterous affair, but you’re not perfect. Nobody could possibly be perfect or sinless, because our sin condition is something we were born with, and not something we did.
The unfortunate thing is, the sin nature in us, is what temps and causes us to sin, and the wage of sin is what leads to death.
In simple terms, what that means is;
Just like if you went to Starbucks to grab a coffee, you would then have to pay for that coffee.
It is the same with sin. Sin has a price, and the price you pay for the sin in your life, is death.
But that is where Jesus comes in.
Jesus – God made flesh – came to this earth and lived a perfect sinless life for us. The bible says that He offered Himself as a sacrifice on the Cross in exchange for us, so that all who believe in Him, could have eternal life. It says that He was crucified – put to death – but because He had no sin, death could not hold Him.
As such, he rose back to life on the third day, and now He sits at the right hand of the Father. Here, He invites you and I to believe in Him. He invites us to trust in what He did for us, so that one day we can spend eternity in heaven.
What that means is, since sin requires payment and that payment is death, Jesus, who had no sin, died for us, in our place, so that we didn’t have too! He paid the price you and I never could!
By believing in Him and what He did, by recognising our sin and repenting for it, and receiving Him as our Lord and our Savior, He pays the price of the sin in our lives. He stands in our place and says, “My blood was clean, and I died for this one, I paid the price for him/her.”
This is why, if we believe in our heart who Jesus is and what He did, and confess this with our mouths, that we will be saved and have our names written in the Lambs book of Life. This is the only way to have certainty about heaven being your final destination. The Bible says it like this;
“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in His grace, freely makes us right in His sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins.”
Romans 3:23-24
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 6:23
“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Romans 10:13
“For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.”
Romans 10:10
When you’ve recognised who you are, prayed a prayer of repentance and accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, you will be a child of God and you will go to heaven when you die. You will not need to wonder or question this, as I did in fear for the first 29 years of my life. When God touches you, and you’re born again, you’ll know it.
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
Romans 8:16
So, to recap;
Step One: The Question You Need to Start with
Do you believe that Jesus is real, and if you don’t believe, are you willing to consider that you might be wrong? If yes, proceed to step two.
Step Two: Encountering Jesus
Find a quiet place, and from the bottom of your heart, pray this prayer;
“God, for whatever reason, I’ve never really believed that You are real, or that following Jesus is the way. I’ve been confused and unsure, maybe even a bit stubborn, but one thing I do know is, I’m scared.
I’m scared of being wrong, and I don’t want to let my pride stop me from finding out the truth about your existence and ability to save me. If you are real, I want to know.
So right now, God, I’m asking you to come and touch me. Reveal yourself to me in a way that I can’t deny. Convict me of my sin God; make me understand in my heart my sin nature, and that I truly am in need of a Savior, having not met the mark of perfection on my own.”
Step Three AND Four: Let God Show and Convict You of Your Sin. Repent and Receive Jesus as Your Lord and Savior by Praying this Prayer
When you’re alone and ready, pray the following, filling in the blank if there is anything specific you feel He is showing you to confess;
“Father, I’m so sorry for all I’ve done. All that You’ve reminded me of now Lord, these things that you’ve shown me that I did, (______________), Lord, I repent of these things now. I am so sorry God. Please forgive me and wash me clean.
Jesus, thank You that You died for me, thank You for Your forgiveness. I believe You are the Son of God, that You died for my sin, and that You rose again. I believe that You’re coming back for me, and today, having recognised and understood what You actually did for me, I receive you as my Lord and my Savior.
Today God, with Your help, I turn my back on sin. Touch and change me God, let me never be the same. Make me a vessel to be used of You, let me be a light in your Kingdom, showing Your Glory to everyone around me Father.
Today, I am born again, I’m saved and set free, I’m a child of God and I’ll spend eternity in heaven with You when I die.
Thank you Lord Jesus for Saving me,
Amen”
If you’ve prayed this prayer today, I rejoice with you. Your life is never going to be the same, and you’re one step closer in fulfilling the plan and purpose God has for your life. I am so excited for you! If you have any questions, please contact me via the contact page!
The story of how I encountered Jesus and was born again is a radical one, and one that I highly recommend for anyone who is just starting out with Jesus. For this reason, it would be such a privilege to bless you with a free copy of the PDF version of Crossing the Jordan; There is a Golden Road for Everyone. If you would like to take advantage of this offer, please email me via the contact page and I’ll be sure to get a copy over to you as soon as I can.
Thank you for reading!