Experience Salvation

How Can I Get Closer to God?

You may be wanting to improve your relationship with God. Or, you may want to be sure that you will go to heaven when you die. You may have enjoyed the journaling which you see on this website and long to be able to have the same kind of experience in your own life. The wonderful thing is, you can! Here’s how...

The Bible teaches that God hungers to share His love with you. In the Garden of Eden, God walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. That is what God wants to do with each of us, also. He yearns to be able to share His love with us and have us share our hearts with Him on a daily basis. As our Creator and Sustainer, He knows what we need even more than we do, and He answers our questions even before we ask.

God’s heart was broken when sin entered into Adam and Eve’s  lives and stole away that relationship He had with them. The tempter tempted Adam and Eve to live like gods themselves, rather than enjoy the flow of God’s life through them. In choosing to look to self, rather than looking beyond to the wonderful Giver of Life, Adam and Eve cut off much of the flow of God within them.

So God sent His Son, Jesus of Nazareth, in the form of a man, to remove the sin which separated mankind’s heart from the heart of God. By entering the world as a man, God was able to take the sins of the entire world upon His own shoulders and pay the penalty of this separation by allowing His Son, Jesus Christ, to be separated from Him for a moment of time. That is why Jesus cried out while dying on the cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” However, in forsaking His Son for a moment of time, God was restoring the opportunity for you and me to return to the experience of the Garden of Eden and, once again, have fellowship with Almighty God. Once again, we could walk with Him in the cool of the day and share our lives with Him and have God share His life with us. 

So our relationship with God can be enhanced. We can be sure of going to heaven by receiving the sacrifice of Jesus’ life for our sins. The steps are quite clearly laid out in the Bible.

The Steps to Salvation Are as Follows:

1. Acknowledge there is sin in your life: For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

2. Repent of sin by turning to God: “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out...” (Acts 3:19).

3. Confess that Jesus is Lord: “If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).

4. Forsake your sin: “Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord...for He will freely pardon” (Isaiah 55:7).

5. Believe in Jesus as your Lord and Savior: “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” (John 3:16).

6. Receive - Invite Jesus into your heart: “He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him. Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:11,12).

7. Experience the Holy Spirit in your heart: “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you” (Romans 8:11).

A Prayer of Response

If you want a closer relationship with God, if you want to know for certain that when you die you will go to heaven, then offer the following prayer to God, from the depths of your heart. Pray aloud, slowly, meaningfully, staying open to experiencing the flow of your heart, including flowing pictures, words and emotions.

“Precious Holy Spirit, do a work in my heart as I offer the following prayer to God.

“God, I come to You in the name of Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. I acknowledge that I have sinned and fallen short of Your ways. I repent of my sin and ask that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanse me of all my sins. I receive this cleansing even now as You sweep over my soul. I confess with my mouth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Lord of my life. I invite You, Jesus, to have first place in my heart and my life.

"I believe God raised Jesus from the dead, and that He is alive in my heart today. I forsake any evil ways and thoughts which I have harbored, and this day turn my life over to Jesus. I ask, Jesus, that You fill my heart and my mind with Your ways and Your thoughts and that You begin a transforming work from within my heart and my spirit.

"By believing in Jesus and His life within me, I am assured a place in heaven with God. I receive eternal life this day. Thank You, Lord Jesus Christ. I yield myself right now to the movings of the Holy Spirit within my spirit. Holy Spirit, please make this very real in my heart and let me sense Your movings within me. May You seal this prayer this day.”

Now just wait quietly for a few minutes in the presence of God and His Holy Spirit and see what you sense within. Lift up your eyes to Jesus and humbly receive His life within your soul. 

Record in your journal today's date along with any impressions or sensations which you received in your heart and soul as you prayed this prayer. 

Taking Your First Steps as a Born Again Christian

If you have just prayed the above prayer, we invite you to obtain a copy of the New American Standard Bible and begin reading, starting with Matthew. We recommend you download the free Bible software e-Sword. It has free training videos and a good number of translations to get you started in meditating on the Bible. Also recommended is the book Basics in 21 Days which begins teaching you how to live naturally supernatural in the very first weeks of your Christian journey.

We also have a series of follow-up courses utilizing books, CDs and DVDs which will train you in many spiritual areas and equip you for greater effectiveness in all of life. These materials can be used in independent study, in a small group, or as part of an external degree program of Christian Leadership University.

Begin with our training package 4 Keys to Hearing God's Voice. It will teach you how to hear from your Lord and Savior every single day of your life. It will restore the Garden of Eden experience to you where they walked and talked with God in the cool of the day. You will, too!