Are You On the Right Road?

Are You on the Right Road?

The Bible tells us that two roads can be traveled by man as we go through life.  One is straight and narrow, while the other is broad and wide.  Only one of the roads, the straight and narrow, however, will get us into the Kingdom of God.  Simple church attendance and going through the motions of living holy are not enough.  We have to know Jesus in a saving way.  We have to have a real relationship with Him.

¹³ Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

¹⁴ Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

 Following is the testimony of a young woman raised in the church who thought she was OK with God until she found out she wasn’t.  Is this your story?  If so, her story presents the answer to how your situation can be rectified.

What Jesus Means to Me

by VM

If it had not been for the Lord, I don’t know where I would be today. He’s always had his hand on my life. Growing up, we were made to go to church and were told what to do, where to go, how to dress, and how to act.  Whenever we questioned WHY, the answer was always, “BECAUSE I SAID SO.”   It was for our own good, I suppose. Our life was church, school, home, and repeat. We, as children, would go to church just to return home without an understanding of the message, playing church, mimicking the shout and the tongue. I was an imitator. I knew of God, but I didn’t KNOW Him.

I was one of the good girls – until I wasn’t. I was walking around here for a long time thinking I was OK. I was on my way to a burning hell, but I was still OK. After graduating high school, I felt I had a little freedom to do what I wanted to do…doing stuff I knew I had no business with.   Wondering what it would be like to be somebody else. I felt my life was insignificant. (But God is more than significant.) I had what I needed naturally, but it just wasn’t enough. I felt empty, broken, ashamed, lost, and confused, longing for something but didn’t know what I needed. Going to church (the building) just wasn’t enough. But I was still OK because that’s all I knew to do.

Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go: And when he is old he will not depart from it.”

I was tired of being messed up and mixed up. Reality set in. I was NOT OK. I was a sinner in need of a Savior. I should have been DEAD, but God saw fit for me to be here for such a time as this. God had a plan for my life.  God knows our beginning from our end.

Wayfair promises to have just what you need. One man made all the difference. JESUS WAS AND IS ALL THAT I’ll ever need. Jesus Christ sacrificed his life for me. Jesus paid a ransom that I could not pay. He didn’t have to do it, but I am so grateful that he did. He saw me in my mess, my despair, my pain, guilt, and shame. Jesus came and rescued me. He filled me with his precious Holy Spirit. He knew that I would need his power to endure my trials/trials of life. Now I have the good sense to know that I need Him every day, for every situation and for every area of my life. Because he saved me, I can be a holy example for my daughter (who gave her life to Christ 2 years ago). It could have been another way.

Acts 2:38 says, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

2 Corinthians 6:17 “Wherefore Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, And touch not the unclean thing; And I will receive you.”

Ephesians 2:8 – “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.”

I know him to be a deliverer, heart fixer, a healer. I know because he healed me of stage 3B breast cancer. I may have lost almost everything in a fire, BUT I still have Jesus. The devil tried to convince me to go out and sit in the middle of the road and wait for a car or truck to pass and run me over, that all my pain and worries would be over. But God took me in his arms and eased the pain, and rocked me to sleep. James 4:7 tells us that if you “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

I know him to be the prince of peace and a mind regulator. He is a way maker, a promise keeper. He is my very present help in times of trouble. He’s my refuge in times of storm. My rock. He is my closest friend.

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Do you know Jesus in this way?  Is He the Lord and Savior of your life? Have you repented of your sins and asked Him to take you to Heaven when you die?  If you have not met these requirements, you are not OK with God, my friend.  Simply being raised in church is not enough, and you are not OK.  Being a good girl will only last until the devil trips you up.  You must have a personal relationship with the Lord to spend eternity with Him.

Fortunately for each of us, Jesus made it possible for us to be saved when He died on the cross and rose again with victory over sin and shame.  We must ask for forgiveness for our sins and ask Him to save us.  We must genuinely intend to live for him for the rest of our lives. We must request the power of the Holy Ghost.  When we do these things, He will immediately begin to transform us into a person that is acceptable unto God.

¹⁷ Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

A great place to begin in a quest toward eternity with Christ is this simple prayer to your Heavenly Father:

Father, please forgive me for all my sins.  Save my soul and take me to Heaven when I die.  I receive Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.  If you save my soul, I will live for you for the rest of my life.

Simple words such as these, coupled with the sincerity of your heart and your determination to keep them, immediately transform you and your eternal future.  A soul that was destined for Hell is immediately re-routed to the road leading to Heaven.  The Prayer of Repentance makes you eligible to receive the power of the Holy Ghost, according to Acts 1:8.

⁸ But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

God gives the Holy Ghost to those who ask for it, according to Luke 11: 9-13:

⁹ And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

¹⁰ For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

¹¹ If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?

¹² Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

¹³ If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

Ask for the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, which is the power to live holy, according to how the Bible says that we have it, and persist in prayer until you receive it.  Acts 2:4 says:  And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.  And so, at the end of your Prayer of Repentance, say, “Father, fill me with the Holy Ghost.”

When you have prayed the Sinner’s Prayer sincerely and asked for the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, you can be assured that you who were once not OK are on the right road to Heaven.   Ask the Lord to place you in a church of believers who live according to His Word and who will help you live a holy and clean life that is pleasing unto Him.

Those of us who have done these things are on the straight and narrow road described in Matthew 7:14.  I’ll see you in Heaven when our time comes.  Meanwhile, let’s enjoy the journey.