A fresh start. Everyone wants it. For those of us who feel that they've made too many wrong moves and they want to start things over, there's good news. We can always start fresh with Jesus, and that starts with jumpstarting a relationship with Him.
Romans 10:9 says, "Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." This experience of confessing and believing first in Jesus is something that all believers share.
Receiving Jesus into our lives is the most significant day we will ever have. On the moment we truly accept Jesus into our hearts and surrender our lives to Him, we are redeemed of all our sin, given a brand new spirit, and enabled to walk a life in a new purpose that glorifies God. But as wonderful of an experience giving your life to Christ can be, it can often be misunderstood as well.
We all have experienced having a wrong notion about receiving Jesus at some point. Here are four common ways we misunderstand receiving Jesus.
God wasn't with us before
Accepting Jesus doesn't mean that He was not with us before. Joshua 1:5b says, "I will not leave you or forsake you."
Even before we gave our lives to Jesus Christ, God was already with us. If He wasn't then we'd all be long gone before we even receive Christ. God's presence is what blesses us and keeps us breathing and alive. God is with us even when we do not acknowledge Him because He loves us and desires to be merciful to all.
We'll be changed right away
While our spirits are instantly transformed and renewed the moment we truly accept Jesus into our lives, our bodies and souls can remain imperfect and broken still. Because of that, it's likely that we will still remain sinful even after we give our lives to Jesus. While that isn't meant to be an excuse for us to stop believing in God to be freed from sin, it is an assurance that God still continues to work in us even after we give our lives to Him.
There's always a supernatural experience
It doesn't mean that since there aren't any fireworks, manifestations or trumpets when we give our lives to Christ that it's not special. Luke 15:7 says, "Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance." Not a whole lot of people will notice every salvation experience, but God does. What matters most is that God is pleased when we put our faith in Him.
Our faith is what saves
Prayer and confession are vital to salvation but it is not what saves us. What saves us at the end of the day is the grace of God and the finished work of Christ. We simply respond to His grace in a certain way that glorifies Him.
