How to believe in Christ?

Whatever may have been your previous acquaintanceship with the person of Jesus, you have come, as it were, to hear his call, “Come, follow me”. Like those in the Gospels, you arose and followed him. It was a personal decision; you may not have understood too much about what it all involved, but you decided to open your heart and you asked Jesus to be your Saviour.

When out for climbing in some great mountains, it is indispensable to procure the services of a guide: the situation may prove perilous ahead. As you journey through life you may now have the services of Jesus, the only reliable Guide to human living at its best. You may trust him to lead you in the right path. There is no better Spiritual Master.

Jesus made numerous promises to those who would believe in him. That’s not simply to believe he existed, nor even to believe he was the Son of God, though these facts about him are foundational. Rather he was referring to a personal commitment between the believer and himself.

When I came to believe in Christ, the evangelist compared what I was about to do to the way a young couple get together. He said that the guy likes the girl and wants to get to know her over time, learning to love her, and desiring to enter a long-lasting relationship. “But,” he said to me, “the two are not married until they stand before the minister who asks them “Do you want to have this woman (or man) to be your lawfully wedded spouse?” In the same way, he said, Jesus says to you, “Do you want me to be your personal Lord and Saviour?” Then he asked me, “What do you want to say to him?” I acquiesced: I wanted to believe. Then he added, “Whenever anyone asks Jesus, ‘Do you want to accept this sinner as your disciple?’ He never says no!”

Maybe like me, you prayed that the Lord would “come into your heart” and save you. After I left the evangelist, I went for a walk, thinking that I had made an important decision that day. It was Easter Sunday afternoon, and I felt that as one “dead in trespasses and sins” I had now become alive in and with the risen Christ (Ephesians 2.5).

So to “believe” in Jesus has that kind of meaning. He promised “eternal life” to those who believe in him (see John 3.16, 5.24, 6.47, 11.26). Eternal life is the gift of God; he gives it as we believe and receive Christ as Saviour and Lord, committing ourselves to him, to follow and obey as our new friend and Master.

If I asked you, “Have you believed in Jesus like that? Have you received him as your Lord and Saviour?” – how would you reply? It helps our faith when we tell someone else that we have decided to follow Jesus. This is sometimes called “confessing Christ” and it allows you to exteriorise before a friend the decision that you have taken in your heart.

If you’re not sure if you’ve actually taken that step, there’s no harm in turning in prayer, just by yourself, and saying, “Lord Jesus, thank you for coming into the world to seek and save the lost like me; I open the door of my heart and receive you as my Lord and Saviour. Help me from now on to grow in my faith and to live as a Christian. Amen”

Jesus will gladly welcome you as his follower.

Clive Every-Clayton

June 24, 2024 0

Everything hinges on

Everything hinges on one key decision.

As you struggle with the profound existential issues that overwhelm the sensitive soul; as you think through what could be the real purpose of your life; as you wonder if there’s a God who could possibly help you; as you resist the temptation to put an end to it all – there is one key decision that confronts you.

You don’t have to go on a long pilgrimage; you don’t have to follow a three-year university course; you don’t have to master some obscure concepts, and you don’t have to pass some test of endurance.

You have to be humble, open to be taught that the life-philosophy you hold dear may well be wrong. You have to realise that no atheistic worldview can offer you the serious answers you seek. You have to consider not “religion”, but rather God himself, because whether you realise it yet or not, God has demonstrated his existence in coming by a historic incarnation into this world: Jesus Christ is the proof that God exists, and if you do not know that yet, a thoughtful reading of the four Gospels recounting his life, his teaching, his divine claims, his miraculous ministry, his atoning death, and his triumphant resurrection will lead you to conclude that God has indeed sent his divine Son into the world to give us the answers we seek. Jesus said he “came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19.10); human beings without Christ are lost. He is the key we need to be “saved”.

Jesus is able to save you from your ignorance, for he is “the light of the world” (John 8.12). He is able to reveal to you how much God loves you, for “God so loved the world (including you) that he gave his only Son (Jesus) that whoever (including you) believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3.16). He is able to enter your life by his life-giving Spirit, as if you were born again into a completely wonderful life in relationship with the God who loves you; he is knocking at the door of your heart, eager to come in and forgive all your failures and sins, and renew you in a life that has real meaning and purpose.

Millions the world over have experienced this new life that Jesus gives; it is what corresponds to the deepest needs of our soul. Until we experience this, we are lost, confused and guilty, wandering hopelessly to no apparent purpose. Jesus can heal your inner being; he can save your soul; he can give you new life.

It all hinges on one thing. Surprisingly, one decision, clearly and resolutely taken, can lift you out of the darkness of despair and bring you to the joy of a real, harmonious relationship with God. One decision involving willingness to be made anew. One decision that you will hold to in the days to come. It all hinges on you calling upon the name of Jesus, opening your heart and saying, “Lord Jesus, have mercy on me, the sinner; cleanse me from my sins; make me born again; come into my heart and be my Lord and Saviour; I will follow you with all my heart”.

This prayer of faith and commitment is the key to experiencing God’s loving presence, and proving to yourself that He is real, for he is eager to answer that prayer when it is sincerely prayed. Your wavering and doubting will be over; a relationship with God will begin.

Clive Every-Clayton

June 17, 2024 0

How to pray

There are times in everyone’s life when the reflex is to turn to prayer. It may be on hearing bad news, on discovering a cancerous tumour, on losing a dear one, or also on finally being chosen for a job, meeting up with a true friend, or being told that the cancer is in remission: either way, in both the bad times and the good, we let out a “Thank God” or an “Oh my God!” to one whose presence does not normally concern us very much.

At times, when facing the tough existential questions about what life is all about and whether our existence has any meaning, our thoughts may turn to God: is he there? Does he know me? Can he help me? In our more hopeful moments, we may consider praying.

But how should we pray? Some people travel far on pilgrimage to be in a place where they think their prayer will be heard. Jesus disagrees with that: “when you pray”, he taught, “go into your room and shut the door”. Pray to God in secret, he said, for he will see in secret and respond to your prayer (Matthew 6.5-6). This means that our secret prayers are heard by God, when no-one else could possibly hear them. Prayer arises from our hearts and we can formulate words to God without even having to express them out loud.

But what should we say? Jesus goes on to give “the Lord’s Prayer”, the “Our Father”. This is the type of prayer that Jesus encourages his followers to pray. It covers worship (“Hallowed be thy name”), entering God’s purposes (“Thy kingdom come”) and yielding our lives to obey his will, (“Thy will be done”). Then come our requests: for our “daily bread” – the necessities of life; for the forgiveness of our sins – that is, our spiritual need to renew our life in harmony with God; and for help to live a truly good life – overcoming temptation and being delivered from evil.

While many repeat this prayer without too much thought, it can be personalised and developed into a meaningful time with God, day by day.

However, the first and most important prayer that everyone should be encouraged to pray is taught by Jesus in one of his parables, where the humble worshipper approaches God almost too afraid to open his mouth, and pleads, “God be merciful to me, a sinner” (Luke 18.13). That kind of prayer God gladly answers, says Jesus. It takes humility, for our pride does not easily acknowledge we are sinners before a holy God. But this first real prayer for forgiveness brings us into relationship with our kind heavenly Father, because without this, the Bible warns, “your sins have hidden God’s face from you, so that he does not hear” (Isaiah 59.2). So our first prayer must be for forgiveness.

Another way of saying the same thing can be found in Romans 10.13: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved”. This prayer is a call on the Lord Jesus for God’s forgiveness and salvation. This is a prayer that God promises to answer – the praying person “will be saved”. One desperate man cried out in prayer: “God, if you exist, save my soul if I have one”. God, who is kind and merciful, seeing the sincerity of this man’s repentance and faith, answered by transforming his life!

Have you prayed that very first prayer? You could pray right now, where you are, and a new life with God will begin.

Clive Every-Clayton

May 30, 2024 0