Grace & Peace -Steps to receiving forgiveness from God

Steps to receiving forgiveness from God – otherwise
commonly known as – Salvation.
steps

Recognize the need for a Savior

We need to acknowledge before God that in ourselves we cannot achieve God’s demand of holiness. Bible declares us as sinners incapable of living a holy life by God’s standard. He judges by His standards, not by human standard. [Romans 3:23] We cannot love God wholeheartedly or love others as ourselves. These are impossible to achieve. We need help!

Receive Jesus Christ

God provides salvation form the penalty and power of sin through Jesus Christ. We need to trust in God’s word and this provision. Pray to God that you are willing to accept that provision and God will immediately accept you as His child. Once that is done you will never ever be forsaken or as some people are afraid of, lose your salvation. [Romans 8:35]

Repentance
repent

Biblical repentance, in relation to salvation, is changing your mind from rejection of Christ, to faith in Christ. This rejection can be in the form of self-reliance by working to get better or make promises to God that one would try his/her best to be good. God does not want anyone’s promise to become better. The biblical salvation is one’s recognition of his/her inability to do anything to satisfy God’s demand. The faith in Jesus Christ demands our total dependency on Him for our salvation. The prayer to get saved must not be a list of promises that ‘I would do this and this and this or I would not do that or that.
In Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost (Acts chapter 2), he concludes with a call for the people to repent (Acts 2:38). Repent from what? Peter is calling the people who rejected Jesus (Acts 2:36) to change their minds about Him, to recognize that He is indeed “Lord and Christ”

It is important that we understand repentance is not a work we do to earn salvation. No one can repent and come to God unless God pulls that person to Him (John 6:44). Acts 5:31 and 11:18 indicate that repentance is something God gives – it is only possible because of His grace. No one can repent unless God grants repentance. God's longsuffering leads us to repentance (2 Peter 3:9), as does His kindness (Romans 2:4).

Biblical repentance is changing your mind about Jesus Christ and turning to God in faith for salvation (Acts 3:19). Turning from sin is not the definition of repentance, but it is one of the results of genuine, faith-based repentance towards the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the Bible, repentance results in a change in behavior. This comes after salvation. That is why John the Baptist called people to “produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:8). A person who has truly repented from rejection of Christ to faith in Christ will give evidence of a changed life (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 5:19-23; James 2:14-26). (This part is mostly quoted from Charles Ryrie.)

Confession

There should be confession and that confession should be in regard to our utter sinfulness and our need for the Savior. If there are known sins in our lives [I am sure there will be] those could be mentioned and pray for the Spirit of God to work in the heart to overcome those. Such confession should be part of daily / minute by minute life of a believer. This is not done to keep our salvation intact, but it will make us spiritually cleansed and keep us ready for His service. This is NOT a onetime action; but an ongoing process.

My prayer for you

prayer It is my sincere prayer that if you are not sure what it means to be saved or have a lot of confusion about it, please consider these truths and pray to God acknowledging your sinfulness and your need for Jesus Christ. He will forgive all your sins and save you this instant and you will NEVER be lost.

You could be brought up in a Christian family but that does not mean that you are taught well in regard to the doctrine of salvation. I am a living proof of it. I also thought I need to get ‘cleaned up’ so the Lord can accept me. I tried my best to get cleaned up but failed miserably. But the Holy Spirit can work mightily once we hand over our lives to Him and start from ‘inside out,’ rather than our efforts to do it from ‘outside in.’

Bro. Tom Johns