How to respond to God
Most people if asked, “Do you believe in God?” will respond with, “Yes!” But that is where they stop the conversation.
How should someone respond to God? Let’s outline what the Bible says about how we respond to God and His desire to save you.
Acknowledge Your Need
Romans 3:23 – "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
This is opposite of what your upbringing taught you. The world convinces people that they are good people. Yet, Jesus states, “Why do you call me good, only God is good.” The error people commit is that they compare themselves to other people, not a Holy Perfect God. We cannot go through life and claim we are good enough to stand in the presence of a Holy and sinless God. This was the reason we were expelled from the Garden of Eden. Eve and Adam sinned only once by disobeying God. We have sinned more than once in our lives and are destined to stay out of the presence of God for eternity after our physical lives end. (The exception to this punishment is trusting in Christ.)
Romans 6:23 – "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
What is the punishment of sinning? Death. But not physical death. Everyone on earth experiences physical death. The punishment is the second death which is the final spiritual judgement and eternal separation from God in the “lake of fire”. (Revelations 21:8) The second death is exclusively for those who have rejected Christ.
Believers who have faith in Jesus escape the judgement and the second death. (John 5:24)
We must first acknowledge we are sinners in the eyes of God and our condition has marked us for eternal separation from God and Heaven after this physical life because we rely on what we think to be true in a world of lies.
So, if you don’t believe His truth (the Bible- the words of God) and you are passively rejecting it and Him, you should be honest with yourself and know you are not going to heaven and loved ones who rejected Christ are not in heaven looking down on you because neither has obeyed God and His truth.
If you acknowledge your need of God to save you from your sinful nature (because we all sin and fall short of the Glory of God), then…
Repent of Your Sins
Acts 3:19 – "Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord."
Repenting is not merely feeling sorrow for oneself. It is taking on a new direction. Most people worship their own lives and desires, seeking only to do their own selfish will.
Repenting is confessing (which is agreeing with God it is a sin) in prayer, feeling the shame and weight of the wrongdoing and then turning away from that sin and seeking out God and His will.
1 John 1:9 – "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
We must turn to the only way that leads back to Father God… Which is to…
Believe and place our Trust in Jesus
John 3:16 – "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."
This is not a simple agreement to believe as an intellectual agreement by saying you believe. This is a trusted commitment. The original word for ‘believe’ in greek is to trust.
You may say you believe that parachutes save lives if you needed to jump out of an airplane mid-flight. You are not lying, you believe that to be true. But, trusting a parachute to save your life requires you to put it on and jump out of the plane. This would be trusting in the parachute versus believing in the parachute. Trusting requires commitment. God wants you to trust in Jesus, not just agree you believe.
What does that look like? Maybe I have a problem in my life, a frustration, a medical condition, a loved one that is hurting. Trusting in Jesus and His promises, I can appeal to Him in prayer for a solution trusting that He will make a way or solve those things that He has planned. It does not mean it will go my way, but His!
Not trusting Him will look like someone who uses all their might, time and energy complaining, blaming, seeking worldly solutions.
John 14:6 – "Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'“
God made only one way to be forgiven and have eternal life in His presence. Through His Son, Jesus. Seek the truth, because the world will give you a thousand lies on how to reach heaven and all of them end in destruction. (Matthew 7:13)
Receive Christ as your Lord and Savior
Romans 10:9 – "If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
John 1:12 – "Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God."
5. Live a New Life
2 Corinthians 5:17 – "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"
If you have received Christ, your life will be dramatically changed. You will have also received The Holy Spirit which will dwell in you and steer you away from sin and sinful behaviors, correcting you daily and hourly, leading you into truth which is scripture. (the Bible)
You will not continue in your usual way. You will begin to hate sin and the truth of God will become your priority. You will no longer want to lie, and if you do, you will be driven to your knees to repent for it. Obeying God will consume your life and learning about Him and who He is will be your hunger. This radical change is your heart being regenerated from God above. No one can live the same way again. (John 3:3)
If you said a prayer one day and started to go to church and act Christian, you are most likely deceiving yourself. Pray that you are not being deceived. (Jeremiah 17:9)
Galatians 5:25 – "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."
If the Holy Spirit is in us, we will walk by Spirit and not by flesh. What is the evidence of walking in flesh? Adultery, fornication, lewdness, idolatry, hatred, jealousies, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, envy, drunkenness, … (Galatians 5:19)
What is the evidence of walking in the Spirit? Peace, gentleness, kindness, love, joy, goodness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22)
We respond to God by acknowledging our need to be saved from our sinful nature by earnestly repenting of our sins and turning our life over to God by believing in His Son who was sent to pay our penalty of death with His Life confessing He is our Lord and Savior trusting in His Name and living by the Spirit He grants us in salvation.
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