Well, it’s a lengthy story.  I was agnostic when we knew each other.  I didn’t care about God and never thought about Him really.  I just figured that if there was a God, He didn’t care about me and so I just wanted to try to have as much fun and control in life as I could.

 

     When I was 18 I moved to Minnesota.  While there I lived with my aunt in a neighborhood dominated by meth.  I ended up getting involved in it.  In December of 2000, God stepped into my life and opened my eyes to reality (Deut. 29:4 “Yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.”).  For the first time I understood that all the wicked and evil things I had done were going to have to be accounted for (Romans 14:12 “So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.”).  God showed me that I was going to die someday and I was going to be given justice and I was going to go to hell. 

 

     If you look at the list of sins that send a person to hell, I was guilty of almost all of them (1^st Cor.6:9-10 “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,¹⁰ Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.”; Rev. 21:8 “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”; Gal. 5:19-21 “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,²⁰ Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,²¹ Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”; Luke 18:20 “Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.”).  And one violation is enough to damn a person to hell forever (James 2:10 “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”).  For God is Holy and Righteous and to sin against Him is a crime of unimaginable consequence.  So for the first time in my life I was aware that God was indeed real and that I was going to have to answer to Him for my crimes against His statutes.

 

     I now knew that I was heading for hell.  And I didn’t know what to do about it.  I was guilty.  There was no denying that.  So I started paying attention spiritually speaking.  I started looking for answers.  It was at that point in time that God used the law to get my attention.  I got arrested for probation violation and had to go to county for 2 months.  While in county, every Tuesday they have church services.  So I went.

 

     God had sent a preacher of the Word to present the Gospel.  The Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword (Heb. 4:12 “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”).  As the preacher spoke, the Word of God, moved by the Holy Spirit, penetrated my heart.  God took my dead heart of stone and gave me a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26 “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.”).  He poured the glorious Light of Jesus Christ into my heart (2^nd Cor. 4:6 ” For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”) and in the Words of the Gospel I could hear the voice of Jesus Christ saying that THIS was the answer.  THIS was how I could be safe.  THIS is how I could know that I was saved from the pits of Hell and heading for Heaven. 

 

     From that moment on, Jesus Christ, has lived in me.  He has dwelt in my heart and guided my life (John 14:23 “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”).  He has lead me in paths of righteousness (Ps. 23:3 “He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.”) and has cleansed me of my sin (Psalms 51:2 “Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.”).  And He continues to work and WILL continue to work until the day I die (Phil. 1:6 “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”).  And then I will enter Heaven for ever as a forgiven man.  Washed clean of all my sins in the precious blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ!

 

     You need to seek after God with all your heart, mind, and soul (Jeremiah 29:13 “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”).  Pursue after Him with everything you have as if your life depended on it (Proverbs 2:3-5 “Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;⁴ If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;⁵ Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.”).  Because it does.  No sin is too great that God cannot forgive it.  Jesus Christ’s bloody sacrifice on the cross is sufficient to pay for all sins for all eternity (2^nd Cor. 5:21 “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”).  And His resurrection from the dead guarantees it (Romans 4:25 “Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.”).  He is alive, not just a Name mentioned in religious services.  He is living and active.  He moves throughout the world and dwells in the hearts of His children.  Cry out to Him.  Pursue Him.  Seek Him with every single ounce of strength you have and you WILL find Him.  And then He will cleanse you from all your sins and will perfect you…in this life and the life to come.