What do you believe?

Are you wealthy? Highly educated? A scientist? From a family with non-believing parents?

• If so, the odds are low that you believe any of the following:
• 1) A man named Jesus died to save you from the penalty of your sins and then came back to life and went to heaven to be with God and is coming back again to judge the world (the Gospel);
• 2) Satan is a real creature who has power to deceive unsaved people;
• 3) God created the world and everything in it , not evolution or the Big Bang;
• 4) There is an unseen world;
• and 5)Humans have souls that will live forever, either with God or without Him in damnation.
• If you have never heard of such things or do not believe in them, this post is for you!

Are you believing the wrong things?

Even if you were born into a Christian family, are not rich or highly educated, you may still be skeptical about the claims about Jesus dying for you. Maybe you assume that his death did not cover YOUR sins because you have so many. Or you think that you are a ‘good person’ who doesn’t need his sins covered.

Perhaps the person who told you about Jesus didn’t explain it lovingly, correctly or truthfully. Maybe your ears just heard a harsh judgment against you that you ‘need Jesus’ because you’re bad. Maybe someone told you that you will go to Hell for your sins unless you go to the ‘one true’ church.

Jesus is not located in a church building, we who believe in Him are ‘the church’.

Did someone come to your door and tell you Jesus was a prophet and teacher and good man? Then they said that to get to heaven you needed to join their church and do good works, but did not tell you to put your faith in Jesus. Depending on many factors, you may have dismissed the idea of a man dying in your place for your sins as outdated, superstitious, outright barbaric, or simply irrelevant to your life.

How can you find the truth?

This post is not going to give you a bunch of Bible verses to prove that Jesus really did exist and really did die for your sins because he loves you and wants to spare you from a real coming judgment and a real hell and that there is a real spiritual realm and a real Satan who is fighting against you and hates God.

There are plenty of verses I could cite. But this post is to beg YOU to find them and read them for yourself! Why? Because you will find the truth when you begin seeking God, reading the Word, praying for God to reveal himself to you, and trusting him.

I can’t make you believe. But if you WANT to know the truth, and you ASK and SEEK, God will not deny you. If you once went to church, but never studied the Bible, it’s not too late to find what you were missing, the beautiful story of God’s love for you and his amazing plan to save you from Satan’s deception.

The story seems almost too incredible to be true, but when you accept Jesus and the Holy Spirit lives within you, you will actually see God working supernaturally in your life to transform you into a new person. You cannot do that in your own power, even though many try.

Why you must find the truth for yourself

Some people go to church to hear sermons, watch videos onlines, and listen to other people talk about subjects from the Bible. Those are not bad things (if they are actually true)! But if you do all that and still don’t believe what’s being said or notice any personal change that obviously only God could do, it may be because you are not really absorbing the truth.

If you think it’s not important, you probably don’t pay close attention and many of us aren’t good listeners. In one ear and out the other!

Not only that, but it’s important to learn the actual scriptures in context and in total, not just a verse or two in a motivational speech about things God can do for you. God is HOLY! He is not Santa Claus or a vending machine or a genie granting wishes.

You were created for God. One of God’s purposes for you is that you know Him so well that you want to worship Him!

His story of creation, interaction with, and salvation of his people is complex and at times hard to understand. Some of it is ONLY understood by the power of the Holy Spirit after we put our faith in Jesus.

How do I start reading the Bible?

You can download many free Bible apps. I like the ESV.org app and YouVersion is good, too. There are others. Or you can read the Bible online.

I am not posting links here because I want YOU to go find them. That is your first step on your journey to seeking God. I promise you that everything listed about Jesus and God and Satan the first paragraph is true, AND MUCH MORE!

The Bible is an amazing , supernatural book . It is all connected like an intricate puzzle. I suggest starting at the beginning with the book of Genesis. There you will find how and why God made the world and what happened that caused people to be so messed up.

After that you might want to jump ahead to the book of John. This book tells why Jesus came and why he was crucified. And while you’re at it, do some research on Biblical anthropology and ancient world history. You will find tons of evidence that proves the Bible is accurate.

I caution you that some things may be confusing at first. That is okay! Don’t give up! Every time you read, pray. Ask God to help you understand. I also suggest using a Study Bible that has extra help like the little numbers on the verses that refer you to related verses that help you understand more about that verse. Look up those other verses! And also look up the meanings of words because Bible words might mean things different from words used in different contexts.

When you read be sure to read the whole book more than once and don’t try to pick out a meaning from just one sentence. Taking notes can help you remember who is speaking, who is the audience, what is the time period, what events were taking place, who is the king, is this a dream, is this a prophecy, etc.

Don’t feel like you have to read the long lists of names and other technical information the very first time you read the Bible. That stuff will probably not make sense to you until you study the overall story of God and his plan for his people.

One last warning, be sure that you do not read the wrong Bible. There are several “bibles’ out there that have been put out by false churches. If the Bible does not teach the the Gospel of salvation through faith in Jesus, it’s not real!

Does it really matter if you believe in God?

Yes! Your eternal life is at stake! The time may be short before Jesus returns or before you die. You need to know him and accept his free gift of salvation before it’s too late. Not only that, but knowing God will change everything for you in this world! Please know that I will be praying for you.

I asked in the beginning if you were rich or highly educated. That is because rich people often feel quite secure and in need of nothing. They think that having money protects them from bad things. And highly educated people are often too smart to understand the spiritual world. They are so caught up in working with what they can see and prove that they lose the ability to trust in things they cannot see. Being rich or smart can be very helpful in THIS world, but in the next world, those things won’t matter at all.

Perhaps you may have suffered at the hand of a ‘religious’ person, or had a painful childhood and no longer think God is real because surely those things would not have happened if he was . Whatever your situation, I pray that you will put aside your objections and do your own research.

Remember, the supernatural is real and the devil doesn’t want you to seek God. When you start on your journey, expect attacks! Expect distractions and all kinds of things to try to keep you from seeking God! But God is stronger. He will help you.

Dear God, I pray that anyone who reads this blog will have their eyes opened to your goodness and the love you showed by giving your life on the cross for them. I pray that they will seek you and find you. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.