How Do I Become A Christian?
Written by Apostle Janice James
“God will meet you where you are in order to take you where He wants you to go.” – Tony Evans
Paul a man in bible times, who opposed Christians, strongly believed it was his duty to oppose this Jesus of Nazareth that the disciples of Jesus were preaching about. Backed with the full authority of the high priests, he threw these believers— he had no idea they were God’s people!—into the Jerusalem jail right and left, and whenever it came to a vote, he voted for their execution. He stormed through their meeting places, bullying them into cursing Jesus, a one-man terror obsessed with obliterating these people. And then he started on the towns outside Jerusalem.
Then he had an experience that changed his life forever. One day on my way to Damascus, he reported, armed as always with papers from the high priests authorizing my action, right in the middle of the day a blaze of light, light outshining the sun, poured out of the sky on me and my companions. It was so bright that me and my companions fell flat on our faces. Then I heard a voice in Hebrew: ‘Saul, Saul, why are you out to get me? Why do you insist on going against the grain?’
He said, ‘Who are you, Master?’
“The voice answered, ‘I am Jesus, the One you’re hunting down like an animal. But now, up on your feet—I have a job for you. I’ve handpicked you to be a servant and witness to what’s happened today, and to what I am going to show you.
I’m sending you off to open the eyes of the others so they can see the difference between dark and light, and choose light, see the difference between Satan and God, and choose God. I’m sending you off to present my offer of sins forgiven, and a place in the family of God, inviting people into the company of those who begin real living by believing in me.’
This account affected the King so much that he did answer Paul saying “Keep this up much longer and you’ll make a Christian out of me!” Acts 26:12-32
You may be feeling that same desire to become a Christian and it is because God is calling you just like He called Paul but in a less dramatic way. You may be ready to respond to His love and make a decision for Jesus now. But you ask the question “How do I become a Christian?”
- Many others have asked this same question, including the Philippian jailer who asked Paul and Silas that question in (Acts 16:30-31), and Paul answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” Paul explained to the Romans, 9 For if you tell others with your own mouth that Jesus Christ is your Lord and believe in your own heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in his heart that a man becomes right with God; and with his mouth he tells others of his faith, confirming his salvation. (Romans 10:9-13
You may ask, “What has Jesus done for me that I feel so empty yet drawn to Him and His love?”
- Jesus died on the cross and arose from the dead for you, to restore a beautiful, loving relationship with God, your heavenly Father. (John 3:16, Romans 5:8-10).
- The emptiness you are feeling is because of sin which separated us all from God for the bible tells us that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23).
- Jesus said I am the way, the truth, and the life. And no one comes to the Father except by me. (John 14:6)
We do not want to be separated from God and go to hell, so we confess that we are sinners and then repent of our sin. We tell God we believe that He raised Jesus from the dead. When we do this, we tell Jesus that we receive Him as our saviour and want Him to be Lord of our life. This is simply how you can become a Christian. It is an act of faith believing that you are now saved and a part of a new family , the family of God.
You can Pray like this:
Dear God, I confess that I am a sinner and that Jesus died for my sins so that I can be in a loving relationship with You. I am sorry for my life of sin. I repent and ask you to forgive me. I believe that you raised Jesus from dead and I receive Him right now as my saviour and as the Lord of my life. Thank you for saving me today, in Jesus’ name. Amen
Heaven is rejoicing because you have made this decision to accept the free gift of salvation from God. Your sins are forgiven, past, present, and future. You did not have to work for it. Today will define your entire life, you will never be the same for you will experience a new life on this earth. Christ now comes to live in you, you have a hope, a purpose for living, a Person to live for and a future that you will forever be with him.
“God loves each of us as if there were only one of us” – Augustine