Making it Personal  

Someone has said, “Knowing Christ died-that’s history. Believing He died for me-that’s salvation.” A personal relationship with Christ begins at the moment of our salvation. Only when we are born spiritually into God’s family do we become members of His spiritual kingdom.

1. WE NEED TO ADMIT OUR LOST CONDITION. 
The Bible says we all come into this world physically alive but spiritually dead. “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23) “No one is righteous-not even one” (Romans 3:10), and “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23)

2. WE NEED TO KNOW WHAT GOD HAS DONE FOR US. 
The gospel of Christ is that God Himself loved us enough to send His own son into this world to rescue us from our sin (John 1:1-4, 3:16).  Then to solve the problem of our lost relationship with His Father, Jesus died in our place, offering Himself as a perfect sacrifice to pay the price of all sin-past, present and future.

3. WE NEED TO PERSONALLY BELIEVE AND RECEIVE GOD’S GIFT. 
While we all have earned the wages of spiritual death and separation from God (Romans 6:23) no one can earn a relationship with Him-it is a gift of His love and mercy. This may sound too simple. However, it takes a miracle of God’s grace to break our pride and self-sufficiency. The actual words we say to God to receive this gift may vary. What is important is that we believe God enough to be able to say, “Father, I know I have sinned against You. I believe that Jesus is Your Son, that He died for my sins, and that He rose from the dead to prove it. Now I accept Your offer of eternal life. I accept Jesus as Your gift for my salvation”.

If this is the honest expression of your heart, welcome to God’s family! By simple, childlike faith, you have entered into a personal relationship with the One who made you and saved you for Himself.