bowl806

Looking to see why people gave their lives to Christ in the first place. Please answer honestly. I was just curious and this thread is not intended to denounce the church or the Lord God in any way, shape, or form.

K. Wood

iTrader: (2)

I asked Jesus to save me so I would go to heaven when I die. I gave my life to him because of what he did for me.

Romans 3:10
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As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
Romans 3:23
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For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Romans 5:8
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But God commendeth his love toward us,
in that, while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us.
Romans 6:23
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For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord.
Romans 10:9
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10
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That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt be
lieve in
thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation.
Romans 10:13
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For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved

bowl806

All those Scriptures are right on the money and I respect that fully but what I'm curious about is, Why did/does anyone to make the conscious decision to serve the Lord rather than live for the world? For me personally, I'd have to say, because everybody has an opportunity to believe in something and I'd rather take a chance in believing in a Lord we cannot visually see or physically touch and be wrong than to believe there is no Heaven or Hell and be right. (Just for clarification I am a strong believer in the Word of God) For if we believe in a Heaven than there must be a Hell and I sure enough don't want to take the chance to go there. As I originally wrote; this is NOT a post to denounce or degrade anyone's faith in any type of way, shape or form.

K. Wood

iTrader: (2)

Good question,

44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

VenturaDC

iTrader: (32)

For me, it was simply just too undeniable. I pretty much spent 28 years as a devout atheist, debating with anyone who was willing, then at work we had a massive crew change up, i ended up on a crew with the only two Christians that work for our company (which is filed with some really rough folks) at first i was quite annoyed, but after some time i quite enjoyed the constant debates we had, none of them angry and we all learned to see each other points.

After a while a started to notice that no matter what was going on in these guys lives that they were always happy and upbeat, which started to get my interest. What was so different about these guys, was it really God?

One day on the weekend i got a text msg from one of them and it was a goofy little video about 12 min long about the idea that every time we breath we speak the true name of the Lord, yahway(no idea how it's really spelt) i thought it was a little goofy and just kind of wrote it off, but here is the little back story before he sent that video i was watching the outdoor nationals for motocross on fuel tv, when he sent the video i decided i would pause the show and turn the tv off. When i was done watching the video i turned on the tv and it had changed it self to the tbn channel and it was a preacher talking about how he believed atheists have it all wrong. It scared the crap out of me, enough so that i walked out of the house shouting "no no no that did not just happen"

The next day at work i told him what happened and he got covered in goose bumps, telling me that right after he sent that video he prayed for God to show me a sign he was real. that had me floored, it started changing the way i thought and i started seeing thing differently. Soon i noticed certain songs playing at certain times while listening to air one Christian radio with my co workers, and things like, that just kept happening, stuff that no matter how hard i tried was completely undeniable, about a month later life got really bad for me, i mean really bad, to the point that i just couldn't handle it anymore, i broke down, cried out to the Lord that if he was real then i give up trying to make my life better and that it was his life to do with what he wanted.

Instantly i felt comforted and i went to sleep, the next day i woke up and everything started getting better in a way i can't explain, went to church that next Sunday and felt more conviction about our Lord Jesus Christ then anything I've ever had in my life, and to me it was just too undeniable.

bowl806

VenturaDC: sent you a pm. Thanks

BoosteD16z6

exactly we are drawn to salvation cause Jesus draws us near

BoosteD16z6

amen thank you for the testimony brother

bowl806

This is the reason for posting a thread like this: EVERYBODY who has made the choice to serve the Lord has a story. Who knows- someone reading this might've gone through a similar situation and facing the same issues and needs to make a change. Giving your life to Jesus doesn't mean all things in life will be easier, but making the change does make things more bearable since we now have hope for the things to come.

tmail55

iTrader: (61)

We now have hope for the things to come.

Supashawn

When I was like 4 and a half my father died and my family told me that "it was his time" and "God called him home". I did not understand that and I soon did not want to have anything to do with a God that would take my father when it seemed that everyone else had theirs. At the same time I had a keen awareness that something was missing in my life. I did not know what it was and tried to figure it out throughout my childhood and teenage years. Eventually I turned to drugs so that I could be numb and not feel the pain of being empty, unfulfilled, and sad. That lasted for about 13 years.
My clean date and also the date of the last time that I was arrested was Aug. 13, 2005. I served 11 months and through that period somehow was able to tear down the lies that held me captive. I did not want go back to the same places that I had been before.
I was released on June 30, 2006 which was a Friday. The home I went to stay at was not a good place. Within an hour of being there people started coming over and drinking/drugging. I went and hid out in the one person's room who did not do anything. The next day when they woke up they did the same thing and so did I. While I was in that person's room I thought about this guy that I was locked up with. One day I walked by his bed and he was reading a bible. I asked him if he believed what he read and of course he replied yes. When I asked why he said the strangest thing, (I thought at the time anyway); he said; "Because I choose to". I walked away shaking my head. As I was in this room I was thinking what was I going to do. After 13 years of drugs it really did not matter what I did or did not want to do, my body knew what it wanted to do. I thought that I had tried every way I knew to live except one. The person's room I was in was/is a christian. I thought to myself, "I don't know what to do. I am going to go to church tomorrow and God if you are real you will show because I will not make it like this."
I went to church and sat somewhere near the back. I don't even remember what the preacher was preaching. I just know that at some point I began to feel this love, love like I had never felt before. It got more and more intense and began to literally invade me, somehow get inside me and began to weep. It got worse and worse, (my weeping), because I had never experienced a love like that and I remember thinking, (I thought to myself), this is what I have been searching for all of life. No sooner had I thought this when God spoke to me and said, "I am everything that you have ever looked for".
I committed my life to Christ that day and two months later He delivered me from drug and alcohol addiction. I no longer struggle with a desire to use or drink.
So I committed my life to Christ because when I was unlovable, He loved me; when I was empty, He filled me when nothing else could; I had no joy and did not know what joy was, He gave me joy; I had no peace or rest, He gave me both; and when I did not have life, He gave me life.
Glory be to our most high God. I love Him and will never turn from Him.
Thank you for the opportunity to share.

tmail55

iTrader: (61)

Supashawn >>> "God if you are real ........."

I think almost every Christian has came to that point at some time in their life.

reliant_turbo

one of my buddies ball-busts in college was what God used to bring me around.

my folks took us to church when i was a kid and it was boring and i tried to get out of it as much as possible. too much sitting still lol.

when i was in college, i went here and there. i was skipping church and slept into 1pm one day when i emerged from my dorm room and my buddy bruce was walking down the hall after getting back from church that day. "Brian, you're a pagan" he blurted out as a joke, not judging or anything like that. God used that moment right there as the point to allow me to realize my rebellion against the good things that he had for me. I prayed with some folks that night at a small Bible study that some friends had. I didnt really know what was going on though. i knew things felt heavy. i knew that some things had to change. that was the beginning of my journey with Jesus that began 14 years ago.

since then, God has slowly and steadily revealed things to me that still needed changing and my faith has been ever increasingly strengthened by recognizing truths in the Bible and in watching others lives being transformed around me as well as my own.

Brian

bowl806

simply put I'd rather be a freak for Jesus than a sucker for Satan. It is such a blessing there are so many others out there in Internet land that make the decision to live for Christ. Yeah, we're all not the world's best or fastest RC drivers, and we all have challenges of our own, but we have the most awesome gift of salvation and being winners in the eyes of the Lord! PS reliant_turbo Brian: your last paragraph is right on man! Keep on keeping on and look for the blessings of the Lord in ALL things!!

Customworksking

iTrader: (74)

As a teen I have had a feeling that someday in my lifetime there is going to be a event almost as if the world stops turning something that will change the way life is as we know it I had this feeling a long time i'm 41 now I blew off going to church several time's I spoke of going to friends about they asked why out of the blue do u want to go? I said to find my purpose in life what I can do for mankind ...so I finally went last year "I never been keep in mind"
I was given a paper on it read "Why are we here" and was the topic of service
I was overwhelmed with emotions all the love,respect happiness , positive energy I felt ..I didn't go that day God lead me there it was my time once I read that paper given to me it was clear that what I was looking for has arrived... I feel we are in biblical times war after war Jesus/God can't be happy with the way ppl have become.. Jesus wanted it simple love everyone and pray for those who do not love.. I feel life is a resume when we pass we reflect at the gates of heaven on what I/we have done for mankind... thanks for reading Kevin