| Everyone
does things that God tells us are wrong. This is known as sin. God
doesn't expect you to be perfect. He just wants you to accept His
forgiveness, so He can be your friend. This is called salvation.
The
way God forgives us is through Jesus. John
3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that He gave
His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not
perish but have eternal life." Jesus died on a cross and
was buried for three days.
But
then something awesome happened. He rose from the grave and
came back to life! He is now in heaven and wants you to accept
Him.
Telling
Jesus You Need Him
You
can accept Jesus by telling Him you need salvation. Have you
ever done or said or even thought something that you knew was
wrong? Maybe you lied to your parents, said something mean to
your brother or sister, or thought something that wasn’t
very nice about someone. This is all sin, and every person in
the world has sinned. Romans
3:23 says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God."
What
It Means To Repent
Jesus
not only wants us to accept Him, but He also wants us to be
sorry for our sins. He wants us to repent. To repent
means to change or to turn from our old ways. Jesus wants you
to act in new ways that are good and pleasing to God. (Luke
13:3)
Unless
we repent, we will always live away from God–not allowed
to go to heaven and not able to live life to its fullest here
on earth. (Romans
6:23)
In
order to turn from our ways, we must believe that Jesus is the
Son of God and that He is the only way we can truly change.
He wants us to ask Him into our lives. Just like you might ask a classmate if he or she will be your friend, Jesus wants us to ask Him to be our friend too.
Inviting
Jesus into Your Life
If
you would like to invite Jesus Christ into your life, all you
have to do is ask Him through prayer. He wants to be your best
friend. Here’s a good way to ask Him:
Dear
Jesus,
I
know that I have sinned, because I have done and said wrong things. I do not want to be apart from God
because of my sin. I need You to take away my sin and forgive me. I
believe that You died and rose from the grave for me because
You love me so much. Thank You, Jesus, for forgiving my sin
and coming into my life. Please help
me to know You more every day. Help me live like You want me
to live.
Amen.
Congratulations!
You
are now a child of God!
(2
Corinthians 5:17-18) God has made you brand new, and He
has great things planned for you.
Great
News
We
have more great news for you! God’s Holy Spirit now lives
inside you and will be with you wherever you go, no matter
what you do, for the rest of your life.
If
you accepted Jesus into your life, you have great news for us.
Tell us about it. Please write to us at feedback@intouch.org.
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