i was surfing a website (http://www.rhema.org if anyone would like to know) and i was interested in knowing what these people believe. but since i didn't find any section for that at their website, i decided to check out their salvation prayer and i didn't know whether to laugh or cry. so here it is: ____________________________________ Have you ever made Jesus the Lord and Savior of your life?
If not, pray this prayer and start a new life in Christ.
Dear God, I come to You in the Name of Jesus. I admit that I am not right with You, and I want to be right with You. I ask You to forgive me of all my sins. The Bible says if I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in my heart that God raised Him from the dead, I will be saved (Rom. 10:9). I believe with my heart and I confess with my mouth that Jesus is the Lord and Savior of my life. Thank You for saving me! In Jesus Name I pray. Amen. _______________________________________
did anyone notice something missing ? like, repentance ? or maybe the cross ? but the part that really got me was: "I admit that I am not right with You, and I want to be right with You." yeah God. i am not right with you. we are just not communicating. you see, it's not you.. it's me. or maybe it's both of us.
i would like to compare that to a local hymn that i love:" i cannot name a single good thing about myself throughout my whole previous life. what am i but a cruel heart and a man born in sin ? i only know how to betray my savior, hurt him, and forget the promises i made to him. for my whole life i used to walk away from you lord and you would come looking after me. i only come to you in my difficult moments and never remember you in my happier ones.my heart just forgot that you are the source of my happiness".
REPENTANCE: Repentance is an evangelical grace, wherein the Holy Spirit makes a person aware of the manifold evil of his sin, so that he humbles himself with godly sorrow, detesting sin, and abhorring [i.e., hating] self, with a purpose and endeavor to walk before God so as to please Him in all things. (taken from heartcry missionary website).
to me, repentance is like a foundation. the higher you want to make a building, the deeper it's foundations must be. repentance is the foundation of our spiritual life. yes, God wants to take us to newer higher levels. to use us and work through us with his gifts. but unless we have a firm and deep foundation of repentance, this whole high building would collapse eventually. it cannot go high. in this sense, repentance keeps us from taking any glory to ourselves. it makes all the difference between humbleness and arrogance. with a belief lacking any foundation of repentance, as we see in this salvation prayer, is it a wonder we see people who are supposed to be believers falling so often ? |