After we put our faith in Jesus… What’s Next?

what is truth

Once you put your faith in Jesus, what should you expect? If you are listening for the crashing of thunder or the blaring of trumpets, you’ll be disappointed. What happens when we confess our sins to God, ask His forgiveness and invite Jesus into our lives to be Lord and Savior? We are given three guarantees. We are accepted, secure and significant.

It’s like getting a receipt for payment. In this case it is payment for our sins and forgiveness from God. This rock solid, take it to the bank, eternal and absolute guarantee is written down, never to be over tuned or taken away. Three things happen to you.

YOU ARE ACCEPTED

If you’ve ever joined a club or organization there’s that feeling of being an outsider. Maybe you don’t know what’s going on, or you’re unfamiliar with the culture. Through Jesus you become a member of God’s family, one of His children. You are a full member in good standing, with full rights and privileges as an heir to God’s Kingdom. You are a brother with Christ.

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. (John 15:15)

God pours out His love for you

Nothing is holding you outside the gates of heaven. You haven’t earned it and you can’t buy it and you don’t deserve it, but God’s love is poured out just by exercising an act of faith. Accepting Jesus as your Savior is the key.

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, (Romans 5:1)

Whosoever believes in Him shall not parish, this is what Jesus told Nicodemus the Pharisee and what He promises us as well. We become part of something much bigger than ourselves.

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. (1 Corinthians 12:27)

Because we are accepted and are a part of the family, we can go to our Heavenly Father and, like a shall child crawling up on daddy’s knee, we can tell him our troubles and ask for help.

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:14-16)

YOU ARE SECURE

Having been accepted and adopted into the family, you need not worry about your future. Jesus paid the price for your sin and nothing is going to change that.

Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. (2 Corinthians 1:21-22)

That seal of ownership is powerful and cannot be broken. We are all sinful creatures and just because we have been adopted into God’s family, through the Lord Jesus Christ, that does not mean we are free from sin. No, we are free from the consequences of our sin, while we strive to be like Jesus.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1-2)

YOU ARE SIGNIFICANT

As accepted and secure members of the Kingdom, believers are called to spread the word to others. It’s a task not to be taken lightly, but to be embraced as a privilege. Jesus taught His twelve disciples to share the faith. We are called to do the same. That makes us significant to God’s unfolding plan.

2 Corinthians 5:17-21

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:17-21)

As joint heirs with Christ, believers are indeed significant members of the family. Jesus said he calls us brothers (and sisters). We are not servants but friends. We are with him forever.

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, (Ephesians 2;6)

Accepted, secure and significant are God’s promises to those who have the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. A simple act of faith can change all of eternity for you and me.

Faith In The Bible

Faith in the Bible
Faith in the Bible is a gift from God based in truth

Faith in the Bible, you cannot see it, or touch it, or taste it, or smell it, or hear it, but faith is the most powerful force driving human experience. In the Bible, faith drives the actions of so many people.

By FAITH Abram left his homeland to a place that God promised. Then By FAITH, the parents of Moses put him into a basket and floated him down the Nile to be rescued by Pharaoh’s daughter. Also By FAITH, Joshua led the Israelites into battle to claim the Promised Land.

Additionally By FAITH, David took a slingshot and five stones to defeat the giant Philistine Goliath. By FAITH Mary obeyed God and carried His child. By FAITH the disciples dropped everything they were doing and followed Jesus. And it is by FAITH that man and God are reconciled.

We cannot prove the existence of God. We can see evidence and make a determination that the evidence points to God, but we cannot prove it. It is by FAITH that we believe in God.

Many people believe in God, but in different ways, so it is by FAITH that we accept the Bible as the inspired Word of God. FAITH is founded on facts gathered through the accounts of history, both recorded and verbal. Faith is not emotion, it is the hope of something that has not yet happened.

Biblical faith is beyond mere hope, it is a confident expectation that God will do what He says He will do. Biblical faith is based upon a consistent record of promises kept the LORD.

Faith in the Bible Based On Fact

In order for faith to have any meaning, it must be based on fact, not opinion, conjecture or fantasy. Imagine holding a key in your pocket. You’re convinced it is the key to your home, so you have faith that it will work on your front door.

Then you try to place the key into the lock, but it doesn’t work. You were convinced that it was the right key. It looked like the right key, but it didn’t turn the lock. Your faith was not founded on fact, it was founded on opinion.

Biblical faith is built on people seeking truth. We can read the Bible, but sometimes we are frustrated because we don’t understand. Maybe we give up and don’t pursue the truth. God said “seek and you will find,” which is a simple way of saying you are encouraged to examine the Bible and study the Word.

We All Need To Know God

In order to know God, His nature and character, we need to get acquainted with Him. When you meet someone for the first time and there is a connection, you want to talk and get to know them. Over time, you may get to know them very well.

You know their opinions, their feelings and you have a good idea of what they will do or say in any situation.

So it is with God. Over time, when we have knowledge, we begin to trust and when we begin to trust, we begin to develop FAITH. We become friends with God as His children.

God Invites Us To Ask Questions

Faith does not mean you can’t ask questions. God invites us to question. He invites us to “reason” with Him. We ask questions, He delivers answers.

Answers are revealed in His Word, or they come by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who opens our eyes to truth and meaning. God’s Word is living and, as He tells us, is spiritually discerned, meaning that if God wants you to understand it, you will.

You can read a passage 100 times and not grasp it’s significance, but on the 101st reading you suddenly see it clearly and understand. You haven’t suddenly gotten any smarter, but God has opened a window for you. In a growing relationship with God, FAITH is a gift He gives us.

Biblical faith is not blind faith.

Biblical faith is not blind faith. Blind faith is just something you want to happen. Biblical faith is more like you want what God wants you to have.

What is God’s plan for your life? How can you serve Him? These are questions that each of us ponder in faith to He who created us and loves us.

Faith in God is based on the intimate, personal relationship you have with Him, and is based on the absolute truth that God is sovereign. Faith founded on fact.