Do you know how to receive Jesus in your heart? (archived edition pt. I )

Do you know how to receive Jesus in your heart? This is my first time asking this question in a long time. I know. I feel a little embarrassed because it really shouldn't be that difficult to ask someone if they would like to receive Jesus into their heart. Yet, I think it is something that gets neglected or we assume somebody already knows who Jesus is in their life.

I don't know if you have heard what it means when you assume something....well it is not so good. I don't think we should make excuses for ourselves to share the gospel. The following verse says why we ought not to make excuses for God's word:  "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek." Romans 1:16 NKJV

The following is from a tract I used to use with Campus Crusade for Christ when I was in college:

1) The first thing to recognize is that God loves you, and has a wonderful plan for your life.

John 3:16 tells us, "God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that who ever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." Can you believe this? I do. But, I have believed since I was a young boy. If you are reading this verse for the first time, you might need some time to think and make a decision. Yep. You have to decide whether this is true or not. We are all given that choice. I hope you will believe it true. Can you believe that God loves you? I have asked myself this question often in my adult years, and it seems logical to say yes, because if Jesus didn't die on the cross for me, then I have believed in vain. It's not impossible for God to love us. It is not impossible to believe we can have eternal life with Jesus. That, is what He came here for, to establish a means to reconcile us with God, to have a relationship with us. Just for the sake of continuing this idea, read John 3:17- "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." God takes no pleasure in condemning anyone. He wants us all to be saved, but the only way is to have Jesus in your heart. When you come to believe in Jesus, you receive Him in your heart by asking him into it. 

According to John 10:10, Jesus says, "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have [it] more abundantly." The enemy wants you to believe there is no better life after you leave this one. But, Jesus has made sure that the enemy is proved wrong. Jesus came that we might have a life that is full and rich (in God's love) in Him.

 

--Jesus, for my friends who I have known for years, who still need you in their hearts, and for those I have yet to meet, please prepare their hearts to receive Your truth. I believe the Bible is infallible, that everything you have spoken in it is true. I believe You are the risen Lord, the Messiah. I realize that people make their own choices, and it is often sad when people don't believe in You, but let me rejoice the day I see my friends who have received You, when we all get to heaven. In Your name, Amen.




Cited:

Blue Letter Bible. "Dictionary and Word Search for '"I" AND "am" AND "not" AND "ashamed" AND "of" AND "the" AND "gospel"' in the NKJV". Blue Letter Bible. 1996-2011. 4 Aug 2011. < http:// www.blueletterbible.org/search/translationResults.cfm?
Criteria=I+am+not+ashamed+of+the+gospel&t=NKJV >

Blue Letter Bible. "Gospel of John 3 - (NKJV - New King James Version)." Blue Letter Bible. 1996-2011. 4 Aug 2011. < http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Jhn&c=3&t=NKJV >

Blue Letter Bible. "Gospel of John 10 - (NKJV - New King James Version)." Blue Letter Bible. 1996-2011. 4 Aug 2011. < http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Jhn&c=10&t=NKJV >