God's Salvation

Psalm 119:81
My soul faints for Your salvation,
But I hope in Your word.

What is this 'salvation' you keep hearing about? The dictionary definition is 'saving someone/thing from harm'. In this context, this salvation is from God. It is given to us by Jesus Christ, the Messiah, God's Son, when He came down from heaven to live with humans and then die for us, because of us. He died for us. He didn't deserve to die, so why did He do that? He did it so that we could have this 'salvation'.

Have you heard the story of Jesus? The real story, I mean, the one that the Bible tells. How He lived on Earth and hung out with the hated and despised by society, how He told us how to live and then showed us by practicing what He preached, how He was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver, and sentenced to death because old-fashioned-religious-traditional Jews couldn't stand how He loved everyone equally, not them more because they lived their seemingly holy lives.

Have you heard how when He was hanging up on that cross, people laughed at Him, saying that if He was the Son of God, He could get down. Have you heard about how He could have jumped down at any time, and run away and never have died? Have you heard about how He didn't, and how He stayed on that cross because He knew that was what needed to happen for us.

Have you heard that He died on that cross, and His friends took Him down and buried Him, but three days later they came back and He was gone? Have you heard how He rose from the dead, because He didn't deserve to die?

Have you heard how when He was up there, He thought of you, and He knew that you would be reading these words today? And today, right now, He wants you to realize how much He loves you, and He wants you to make sure that He did not suffer in vain. He wants you to understand why He died, and He wants you to benefit from it. He wants you to become a child of God, to receive forgiveness for your sins. How do you do that? With this prayer:

"Lord, I know that I am a sinner. But I also know that Your Son Jesus came down to die on the cross for me, so that I could be forgiven for my sins, and then He rose again, because He was sinless. I know that I don't deserve this, God, but I pray that You will forgive me for my sins and come into my life. Thank You for this gift, God. In Jesus' Name I pray, Amen."

If you just prayed that prayer for the first time, I want you to know something: the Bible says that when one person, just one, realizes the truths in that prayer and comes to Christ like you just did, all of heaven, all the angels, rejoices. Don't make their party stop.

In His Service,
Joyce

Response Question (in the comments section): How can we help to keep heaven's party up?