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Your New Life of Love! [EDITED: "Tract"] GP 2294T 10/92
Have you ever wondered what life is really all about?--What you are here for, and if there is anything special that you are supposed to do? Well, the answer to these important questions can be found in the Bible, God's loving words to us all!
Love for You!
The Bible tells us that "God is Love" (1John 4:8)*, and that He loves you! He is your kind and loving heavenly Father Who made this beautiful world as a home for you to live in, and He has given you a wonderful body, mind and heart with which to enjoy it. [EDITED: "* The references in parentheses throughout this text indicate the books, chapters and verses where the preceding quotations may be found in the Bible."]
God is not only love, but "God is a Spirit" (John 4:24). He is the great Spirit of love Who created the entire universe. He is so big and so great that He is far beyond our simple human understanding. But because He loves us and wants us to know and love Him, He sent His own Son to earth in the form of a man, Jesus Christ.
Jesus is like a picture of God to show us what God is like. Jesus talked about love and showed love to others and lived love all the time.--And finally, He loved us so much that He gave His own life to save us--you and me.
To receive God's love and salvation in Jesus, all you have to do is confess that you are not perfect, that you have made mistakes and that you need God's forgiveness. We have all done wrong, so we all need to be forgiven, because without forgiveness for our sins we will be separated from God's perfect love. (See Romans 3:23; 6:23.)
Jesus is like our older brother, Who knows that we have done wrong and deserve to be punished. But He loves us so much that He offered to take our punishment for us; and God loves us so much that He sent Jesus, and promised to forgive us if we would just believe in Jesus and accept His suffering for our sins.
Open the Door!
Jesus wants to come and live with you as your very dear and close friend. He says, "I stand at the door [EDITED: "of your heart"] and knock: If you will hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to you" (Revelation 3:20). All you need to do is ask Him to come into your heart.
To receive Jesus and His everlasting forgiveness and salvation is just that simple. There is nothing you can do to earn it or work for it, for it is the free gift of God! The Bible says, "By grace [EDITED: "God's love and mercy"], we are saved through faith, and not of ourselves, or by our own good deeds. It is the gift of God!" (Ephesians 2:8,9).
If you have not yet received Jesus, you can ask Him to come into your heart right now by simply praying this little prayer:
Dear Jesus, I believe that You are the Son of God, and that You took my punishment and died for me. Please forgive me for all of my sins. Jesus, I know that I can never be good enough to save myself, so I ask You to please come into my heart and give me Your free gift of eternal life!--In Your name I pray. Amen.
Your Forever Friend!
Jesus not only saves you, but He keeps you saved. "The gift of God is eternal life" (Romans 6:23), and once you have received eternal life, you cannot lose it. If you could, it would not be eternal! Even if you fail and make mistakes, Jesus promised, "Whoever has come to Me, I will never cast him out" (John 6:37). He may have to lovingly discipline you if you wilfully do wrong and are disobedient, but you will always be His saved child, for He says, "I will never leave you nor forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5).
When Jesus comes into your heart, your whole life is changed, like a newborn baby born into a whole new world. Jesus said that salvation is being born again, that you are now a new and different person! (See John 3:3; 2Corinthians 5:17.)
Nourishment and Growth!
Of course, like all new babies and small children, you have a lot to learn and a lot of growing to do!--And the way to grow in faith and understanding is to, "like a newborn baby, hunger and thirst for the pure milk of the word of God, and you will grow" (1Peter 2:2).
If you prayerfully read God's wonderful word in the Bible, you will find that it is "a lamp for your feet and a light for your path," a living guide for you in your new life (Psalm 119:105).
One of God's prophets, Jeremiah, exclaimed, "I found God's words and I did eat them. And His word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart!" (Jeremiah 15:16). God's word is food for your soul, and if you wish to grow spiritually, you must read and spiritually feed from it faithfully.
The four Gospels of the New Testament--Matthew, Mark, Luke and John--give us the beautiful story of Jesus' life on earth. If you start with the Gospel of Saint John, you will find that it is one of the easiest to understand and contains the most words of Jesus and His loving plan for your life.
Overflowing Love and Power!
Another great help to you in your new life will be the wonderful power of God's precious Holy Spirit. When Jesus comes into your heart, you are "born again of the Spirit" (John 3:3-8), so you have God's Spirit living in you already. But you can overflow with the Holy Spirit, if you will simply ask the Lord to fill you with His power.
In a way, we are all like vessels or containers. When we receive Jesus, we are no longer dry and empty vessels, we have received a wonderful portion of God's "living waters" (John 7:38,39). But when we ask the Lord to fill us with His Holy Spirit, He then pours so much of His heavenly Spirit of love and power into us that we are filled up to overflowing.
When the Lord fills us with the Holy Spirit, we also receive the extra power and strength to boldly tell others about Jesus and God's love, to witness to them of the wonderful new life we have found. Jesus promised, "You shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses" (Acts 1:8).
The Bible also says that the Holy Spirit is the Comforter, Who, like a loving mother, tender and gentle with a little baby, hovers over the newborn child of God, waiting, comforting, nursing and caring for us. (See John 14:16,17,26.)
To receive this wonderful power, all you have to do is sincerely pray and ask Jesus for it. "Ask and it shall be given unto you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you.--For your heavenly Father shall give the Holy Spirit to all those who ask Him" (Luke 11:9-13).
Heavenly Communication!
Just as every healthy newborn baby cries for his mother when he needs her comfort, help or nourishment, so crying out to the Lord in prayer is something that comes naturally to every born-again child of God.
Prayer is not just a religious ritual or tradition, but it is personal living communication between a child of God and his or her heavenly Father. It is the royal telephone that keeps you in touch with Heaven!
Jesus is your closest and best Friend, and He will always hear when you cry to Him for help. He says, "Call unto Me, and I will answer you and show you great and wonderful things that you know not!" (Jeremiah 33:3).
Prayer is not just a one-way communication in which you do all the talking and God does all the listening. God speaks to His children today just like He always has. If you sincerely ask Him for answers, He will speak to your heart, and "open your eyes to see wonderful things out of His word" as you prayerfully read it. (See Psalm 119:18.) He will also answer your prayers by "supplying all your needs" for help, healing, guidance, comfort, material needs, etc. (See Philippians 4:19.)
Together We Stand!
Another important part of a newborn child of God's spiritual life is fellowship with other Christians who also know and love the Lord. Jesus said, "Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:20). So there is great power and strength in spiritual unity.
Real Christian fellowship is not just sitting in church listening to a preacher speaking from the pulpit. It is joining together with others to pray and read and study God's word. "If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another" (1John 1:7).
Winning Others!
If you don't know anyone else who has received Jesus, and you don't have any other spiritual brothers and sisters nearby that you can fellowship with, don't despair!--You can find new brothers and sisters by personally leading others into God's heavenly Kingdom by simply telling them how they can ask Jesus into their hearts, and then inviting them to pray with you to do so.
Telling others about Jesus, explaining God's simple plan of salvation to them, is called witnessing. Just as children are encouraged to grow up to become useful members of their family or useful members of society, so the newborn child of God can become a useful and productive member of God's Kingdom by witnessing to others! This is the most important and wonderful job in the whole world--telling others the good news about God's love in Jesus! (See Mark 16:15.)
You can start out by telling your friends and family how happy you are since you asked Jesus into your heart. You can share this pamphlet with them, to help them understand how they too can receive Jesus. God will greatly bless, inspire and reward you as you step out and share His love with others and tell them how they can find Jesus and a new life in Him!
Know the Future!
The Bible not only gives us spiritual nourishment, but it even tells us the future! It is full of many prophecies and predictions written by God's prophets thousands of years ago.--Prophecies that accurately describe world conditions and events that are taking place right now! We are now living in the period which the Bible calls the Time of the End, the very last days of evil man's selfish and cruel rule.
The Bible warns us that a powerful one-world government will soon arise in these last days, ruled by a Devil-possessed dictator known as the Beast or Antichrist, who will try to force all of the world's people to worship him. (See 2Thessalonians 2.) People who have rejected Jesus Christ will be deceived by this Antichrist, and will be given the mark of the Beast in their right hand or forehead. Without the Beast's mark or number, no one will be allowed to buy or sell. The Bible tells us that his number is 666! The Antichrist's 3-year reign of terror will bring about the worst time of trouble the world has ever known! (See Revelation 13 and Matthew 24.)
But during this darkest night of world history, the brightest dawn will suddenly occur!--For at the end of the Antichrist's reign, Jesus Christ Himself will return "in the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory" to rescue His children from the Beast's persecution! (See Matthew 24:29-31; 1Corinthians 15:51,52; Revelation 14:14-16.)
All of the Christians who have already died will then receive new, immortal, indestructible, resurrection bodies. Those of us who are still alive on earth will be instantly changed as we receive new miraculous super-bodies also!--And we'll all sail up into the sky "to meet the Lord in the air!" (See 1Thessalonians 4:14-17.)
After a great party in Heaven, the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, we will all return to earth with the Lord, to crush and defeat the evil forces of the Antichrist in the supernatural Battle of Armageddon! (See Revelation 19.)
Then Jesus and all of His resurrected children will take over this world to organise it, rule it and run it the way it should have been run all along!--The Kingdom of God on earth! (See Revelation 20:4.)
After a thousand years of this wonderful reign of Christ on earth, God's great heavenly city--1,500 miles (2,414 kilometres) high, wide and long--will descend onto the beautiful, recreated, Garden-of-Eden-like New Earth where we will all live with Him forever! (See Revelation 21 and 22.)
In God's heavenly city, we will enjoy more beauty, pleasure and excitement than we have ever before imagined!--And we will be challenged and thrilled with the task of spreading God's love throughout the whole universe!
Those who are the most faithful to the Lord now will receive the greatest rewards and blessings then! (See Revelation 2:10; Daniel 12:2,3.) So be faithful to love Jesus and to try to help others to find Him here and now so that they too can enjoy His wonderful heavenly city of the future!
To Sum It All Up!
For a wonderful new life of love, all you have to do is:
* Be "born again" by asking Jesus into your heart!
* Read God's words, the Bible, starting with the Gospel of John!
* Be filled with God's Holy Spirit!
* Pray: Spend time talking with Jesus!
* Fellowship with other sincere believers!
* Tell others about how you found Jesus, and how they can too!
* Know that Jesus is returning soon!
For more information, please write today to:
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
