You can receive Christ right now by faith through prayer.
Praying is simply talking to God.

God knows your heart and is not so concerned with your words as He is with the attitude of your heart.

Here’s a suggested prayer:

Lord Jesus, I want to know you personally. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life to you and ask you to come in as my Savior and Lord. Take control of my life. Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Make me the kind of person you want me to be.

Does this prayer express the desire of your heart? You can pray it right now, and Jesus Christ will come into your life, just as He promised.  Is this the life for you?

If you invited Christ into your life, thank God often that He is in your life, that He will never leave you and that you have eternal life.

As you learn more about your relationship with God, and how much He loves you, you’ll experience life to the fullest.

“… whoever believes in him shall not perish …” John 3:16

The phrase “believes in him” doesn’t digest well in our day of self-sufficient spiritual food. “Believe in yourself ” is the common menu selection of our day. Try harder. Work longer. Dig deeper. Self-reliance is our goal.

And tolerance is our virtue. “In him” smacks of exclusion. Don’t all paths lead to heaven? Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and humanism? Salvation comes in many forms, right? Christ walks upriver on this topic. Salvation is found, not in self or in them, but in him.

Some historians clump Christ with Moses, Muhammad, Confucius, and other spiritual leaders. But Jesus refuses to share the page. He declares, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me” (John 14:6, RSV). He could have scored more points in political correctness had he said, “I know the way,” or “I show the way.” Yet he speaks not of what he does but of who he is: I am the way.

Many recoil at such definitiveness. John 14:6 and Acts 4:12 sound primitive in this era of broadbands and broad minds. The world is shrinking, cultures are blending, borders are bending; this is the day of inclusion. All roads lead to heaven, right? But can they?

The sentence makes good talk-show fodder, but is it accurate? Can all approaches to God be correct? Every path does not lead to God.

Jesus blazed a stand-alone trail void of self-salvation. He cleared a one-of-a-kind passageway uncluttered by human effort. Christ came, not for the strong, but for the weak; not for the righteous, but for the sinner. We enter his way upon confession of our need, not completion of our deeds. He offers a unique-to-him invitation in which he works and we trust, he dies and we live, he invites and we believe.

We believe in him. “The work God wants you to do is this: Believe the One he sent” (John 6:29, NCV). This union is publicly dramatized in baptism, for to be baptized, as Paul wrote, is to be baptized into Christ. (Galatians 3:27)

Believe in yourself? No. Believe in him.

Believe in them? No. Believe in him.

And those who do, those who believe “in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

From 3:16, The Numbers of Hope
Copyright (W Publishing Group, 2007) Max Lucado
Used by permission

Question: What difference does it make to believe and have faith (trust) in a person rather than a set of laws or philosophies?

About this Author: Max Lucado

The Invitation
The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life” (Revelation 22:17).

Prayer is a gift, priceless and free.

My lover spoke and said to me, “Arise my darling, my beautiful one, and come with me”  (Songs of Solomon 2:10).

Prayer is a place of relationship and intimacy.

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men”  (Matthew 4:19).

“Ask of me and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the ends of the earth as your possession”  (Psalm 2:8).

Prayer is a place of kingdom growth.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

Prayer is a place of rest, a place where we can lay our burdens down.

The Responsibility
“His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ephesians. 3:10, 11).

That church is us. The manifold wisdom of God is the word of God fulfilled in Christ. These rulers and authorities are the angels of God and the powers of darkness. God has given us the mandate, and the privilege, of using His word and claiming His promises to impact the unseen battles which are taking place in the heavenly realms.

“Praise the LORD, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word” (Psalm 103:20).

“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony”  (Revelation 12:11).

“In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from the Father”  (John 16:26, 27).

Jesus has given us His name, His identity, so that we may come boldly and confidently before the Father, but has left the asking up to us.

The Promise
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened ‘ (Matthew 7:7, 8).

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”  (1 Corinthians 2:9)

“You do not have because you do not ask God”  (James 4:2).

God has so much more for us than we can think or imagine  but we must ask Him.

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart”  (Jeremiah 29:13).

God has new depths of fellowship that He wants to take us into but we must seek Him.

“Call unto me and I will answer you and tell you great and mighty things which you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:3).

Father God, You have  new places and new spiritual heights that You want to take us to. Teach me to knock at Your door and call out to You. Teach me to pray. Amen

Questions: When you feel weary and burdened, do you take your burden to God?  Do you ask God to help  you believing that He will?

About the Author Patricia Psooy

Daily audio podcast: A second daily devotional, You are not an Accident, today on the Men’s Devotional Blog

Have you given God the opportunity to accomplish infinitely more than you would ever dare to ask or hope for in your life?

We try to be self-sufficient and get so busy that we don’t invite God to get involved with our needs, dreams, desires, and hopes. God is waiting for us to ask for His involvement in our daily routines and the future. I wonder if He doesn’t get frustrated with us because He wants to give us so much but we don’t ask Him for it. Our prayerlessness denies Him the opportunity to show us His awesome power.

The next time you come into a situation that is too big for you to solve, or seems hopeless, invite God to get involved. He is waiting for an invitation. In The Prayer of Jabez devotional book, Bruce Wilkinson writes, “It doesn’t matter whether you are short of money, people, energy, or time. What God invites you to do will always be greater than the resources you start with.” When the hand of God is upon you He may ask you to do things you don’t think you are capable of doing. However, that is when He can show  His awesome power as we stretch and grow in our spiritual lives.

If we do not “ask or imagine” what limit does God have to exceed? Our finite minds simply cannot grasp what God has in store for us as His beloved children. We have no idea how many times we have prayed and God has answered our prayers but is waiting for the proper time to give the answer.

Do you notice when God answers your prayers? Ask God to adjust your spiritual vision so you will recognize when He is working in your life. Pray about the little concerns in your life then stand back and watch God answer, you will be amazed.

Father God, Please help me to thank You for the answers to my prayers. At the end of the day remind me to recall the many answers you have given, even the little ones throughout the day. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to see Your power at work in my life.

Bruce Wilkinson, The Prayer of Jabez devotional, (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publishers, Inc., 2001), p 68.

Questions: Have you given God the opportunity to accomplish infinitely more than you would ever dare to ask or hope for in your life? Is God involved in your daily routines and the future?

About the Author Lillian Penner

Daily audio podcast: A second daily devotional, Dealing with Fear: A Lesson from a Two-Year Old, today on the Men’s Devotional Blog

Do you have difficulty sharing God’s love with others?  We invite you to talk to  us about it. One of our Women Today e-mail mentors will respond to you personally.

Join us for our Daily Devotional Chat today in our Women’s Chatroom at 10:30am EST.

“I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself ” (John 14:2-3 (KJV).

Read John 14:1-14

Together with other church women, I worked hard to prepare a lovely setting for the church dessert to welcome newcomers. To make it special, we draped the tables with colorful tablecloths, added fragrant flowers, and fluffed napkins into the cups. Then we set out a wide variety of irresistible, mouthwatering homemade desserts. I couldn’t wait to welcome the forty-five guests who had signed up. They trickled in slowly, so we delayed starting, hoping more would come. When only twenty-five attended, I felt disappointed.

The Lord Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us. We’re all invited, but so few accept His offer. Those who neglected our dessert simply missed a pleasant evening; those who reject the Lord’s invitation miss out for all eternity.

Will we accept His invitation? Are we burdened and praying that others will respond?

Lord Jesus, thank You for preparing a heavenly mansion for those who believe. I pray that many will respond to Your invitation. Help me share my faith and invite others to know You. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Questions: What could we do differently so that more people would be attracted to the Lord’s invitation?  How does your life reflect God’s love and forgiveness?

About the Author Lydia E. Harris

Daily audio podcast: A second daily devotional, How to Handle our Weakness, today on the Men’s Devotional Blog