Question:
Will reading the Bible and prayer help me since I am unsaved?
God's Word and prayer are powerful forces that help you in your life. But there is a requirement that you be in relationship with Him
I can tell you that God's Word is true: He is not willing that any should perish; meaning, to be lost eternally. One of the most popular passages of the New Testament puts it like this: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him" (John 3:16,17). The point is that God is ready, willing, and able to save whoever comes to Christ. It's that easy.
The hard part is that we don't receive it. We try to somehow "work" our way to acceptance by God. That is probably why you feel a sense of hypocrisy in the whole matter. But both the Old Testament the New Testament teach that there is no one who is righteous (Isaiah 54:6, Romans 3:10). If fact Isaiah wrote this: "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away" (Isaiah 64:6). It is our own sinful behavior and thoughts that pull us down and make us filthy in the sight of God.
The only remaining option is to truly put your trust in the work of Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul quoted the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk (Hab. 2:4) when he wrote: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek [i.e., non-Jew]. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written. The just shall live by faith" (Romans 1:16,17). When you truly make up your mind to totally trust in the work of Christ's death on the cross as the payment for all of your sins, you accept his undeserved favor of forgiveness in your life. Then you live the rest of your life in that favor of forgiveness. God knows everything you have done. He sees and knows everything. But He loves you and is ready and willing to forgive you of everything that is not righteous.
That is not hypocrisy, that is substitution; which is what redemption is all about. To redeem something, a ransom payment is made to get something valuable back. That is what Jesus did on the cross. Out of love, He ransomed His own life for yours. God paid to get you back; He considers you valuable. And you receive the benefit of that payment by putting your faith in what Jesus did.
So give yourself to Him, and then you can find success using the information I gave you in my previous email. The exact words of course are not important; it's a matter of heart. But we use words to help express our heart. Please repeat these words from your heart:
"God, I acknowledge to You that I am a sinner, and I need to be saved. I accept what Jesus did on the cross for me as the only means of being accepted by you. I ask you to forgive me of my sins. I put my trust in the payment that Jesus made. I make Jesus my Savior and my Lord, and for the rest of my life I commit myself to You and to a relationship with Jesus Christ. In Jesus' Name, amen."
I pray that God help you understand His love for you, and His undeserved favor (which we call grace). God bless you.
Rev. Pat Reynolds
Wayne Parks Ministries