Where Faith Meets Victory
Salvation: How do I become a Christian ?
Do you know where you stand with God?
If you have never made Jesus the Lord of your life, then you are separated from God by sin. You are the reason God sent Jesus to the cross. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” God loved you so much that He gave His only begotten Son for you.
II Corinthians 5:21 says that God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin for us. Sin was the reason Jesus came to earth. He died on the cross and went to hell for one reason: to pay the price for sin. Once that price was paid, Jesus was raised from the dead, triumphant over Satan; and the sin problem was taken care of.
God does not hold your sin against you. The only thing keeping you from becoming a child of God is failure to turn from your present world and your present god, which is Satan, and make Jesus the Lord over your life.
When Jesus paid the sin price for you, He was your substitute. Heaven has it recorded that you have been set free. It is as if you yourself died on the cross 2,000 years ago. But that doesn’t mean you will automatically go to heaven. Even though God sent Jesus to pay for your sin—even though He holds nothing against you—you can still go straight to hell. Why? Because you have not made the choice to receive Jesus as your own personal Lord and Savior, to accept His sacrifice as yours. You have a free will. You have the right to choose your own destiny, God will not force you to receive salvation. The choice is yours. You can go straight to hell and God will not lift a finger to stop you. He did all He is going to do when He sent Jesus into the world.
Your choice is set before you.
If you do choose to make Jesus your Lord, God will receive you as His very own child. You will become a part of God’s family. He will be your Father and you will be His child. This is not just a theological idea; this is a fact. It actually happens. Jesus actually walked the earth as a man. He actually went to the cross, died there, was raised from the dead, and is alive today, seated at the right hand of God in heaven.
When you become a Christian—when you become born again—you take on the nature of God, your heavenly Father. The nature of sin and Satan is death; the nature of God is life. Jesus spoke to the people of His day and said, “Ye are of your father the devil” (John 8:44). To accept Jesus as your Lord causes you to turn your back on your father the devil, or on “the god of this world” as Satan is called (II Corinthians 4:4). You take on a new Father, a heavenly Father; and you are born again—not physically, but spiritually. Your spirit is reborn in the likeness of God.
You see, you are a threefold being: You are a spirit, you have a soul (mind, will, emotions), and you live in a body. Jesus referred to this in a conversation with Nicodemus (John 3:3-7).
Jesus said to him, “You must be born again.”
Nicodemus replied, “What do you mean? Do I have to go back again into my mother’s womb?”
Jesus answered, “No. What is born of the flesh is flesh. What is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
Being born again is a spiritual rebirth. You are born of the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit was sent into the earth to carry out the new birth. When you make Jesus the Lord of your life, the Holy Spirit comes to indwell you and causes your spirit to be re-created. According to II Corinthians 5:17, when you accept Jesus as your Lord, you become a new creature, or new creation; old things pass away and all things become new. As far as God is concerned, at that moment, you stand before Him as a brand-new person. You are reborn from sin and death to righteousness and new life. That is a fact.
I John 5:1-4 says, “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.... For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”
I want you to realize what happens the moment a person makes Jesus Christ the Lord of his life. In the eyes of God, he becomes a world overcomer. Sin no longer reigns over his life. Sin is no longer his lord. Jesus is His Lord and he can live above the satanic forces in the world.
After Jesus was raised from the dead, He stood before His disciples and said, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18). Then He delegated that power to His people. He said, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). What is the gospel? The good news that God is no longer holding your sins and trespasses against you.
The Bible gives some specific instructions that you are to follow in order to become a Christian, or in order to be born again. Look at Romans 10:8-11:
…The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
Jesus said, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). No matter what kind of sinner you are, no matter what you have done, you can go to Jesus and He will accept you. Once you go to Him, then He will cause you to be born again. He will re-create you, and that sin which has been plaguing you will be a thing of the past. It will be gone. You will be accepted before God as if you have never sinned!
To be born again, you use your mouth and you use your heart. First, you believe in your heart that God’s Word is true; then you confess it with your mouth because you believe it.
I want you to realize one very important fact: You don’t confess you are saved because you feel saved. Feelings have absolutely nothing to do with salvation. Let me give you an example:
Suppose someone says to you, “I went to the bank this morning and deposited $1,000 in your account.” How do you know they actually did what they said? You don’t believe they did it because you feel $1,000 richer, and you don’t doubt them just because you don’t feel any different. Your feelings really have nothing to do with it. If that person’s word is good, you will believe him. If his word is bad, you won’t.
When your salvation is involved, you are relying on God’s Word—and God doesn’t lie. He means what He says. If He said it, then you can believe it. He has said that if you believe in your heart and confess with your month that Jesus is Lord, you will be saved. You don’t base your salvation on the way you feel. You base it on the pure, unadulterated Word of Almighty God.
God’s Word is the only evidence you have that you are saved, but that is all the evidence you need!
Several days or weeks from now, you might not feel saved. You may begin to wonder if you were ever really saved to start with. You will have doubts—Satan will see to that! But when those thoughts and feelings come, just go back to the Word of God. You will see that it still says the same thing. God never changes and His Word never changes. It is still just as true today as when it was first spoken. People may try to convince you that it doesn’t work. Temptations may come to convince you that it didn’t work. Doubts will come to your mind. But all those things do not alter the fact that God’s Word is true.
Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). The moment you make Jesus the Lord of your life will be the moment you have a desire to live, instead of a desire to die. I can testify to that fact in my own life. Before I accepted Jesus as my Lord, I was headed straight to hell. Everything I liked to do was bad for me. The habits I had formed for 25 years were destructive to my body and my mind. But when I made Jesus the Lord of my life, all those desires were changed. I suddenly had a desire to get rid of my filthy habits. I had a desire to get rid of tobacco, alcohol, immoral thoughts and behavior, profanity, etc. My desires had been changed. Why? Because I was changed. The real me, my spirit, was reborn. The change in my spirit brought changes to my mind and body.
These changes are available to you, too. God is right there, ready to accept you, ready to change you. You don’t have to live in sin any longer. You don’t have to live a defeated life any longer. You don’t have to be anything except God’s child. You can walk the road of life victoriously with Jesus as your Lord and Savior. You won’t have to take a back seat to Satan again. You can be the head and not the tail!
I want you to join me now in praying this prayer for salvation. Don’t just read it; make a conscious effort to speak these words from the very depths of your being. When you finish this prayer, you will be born gain:
Heavenly Father, in the Name of Jesus, I present myself to You.
I pray and ask Jesus to be Lord over my life. I believe it in my heart, so I say it with my mouth: “Jesus has been raised from the dead.” This moment, I make Him the Lord over my life.
Jesus, come into my heart. I believe this moment that I am saved, I say it now: “I am reborn. I am a Christian. I am a child of Almighty God.”
Now, thank God for making you His child. Colossians 1:12 says, “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” You have just been made a partaker of an inheritance from God. You have just inherited the kingdom of God!
Speaking of God, the next verse says, “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have the redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.”
You don’t have to wait until you die to receive your inheritance. You are a child of God right this very moment, and you can receive all that belongs to you right now! I John 3:2 says, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God.” You have been delivered from the darkness into the kingdom of God.
Jesus said, “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32).
I welcome you into the family of God!
If you have never made Jesus the Lord of your life, then you are separated from God by sin. You are the reason God sent Jesus to the cross. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” God loved you so much that He gave His only begotten Son for you.
II Corinthians 5:21 says that God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin for us. Sin was the reason Jesus came to earth. He died on the cross and went to hell for one reason: to pay the price for sin. Once that price was paid, Jesus was raised from the dead, triumphant over Satan; and the sin problem was taken care of.
God does not hold your sin against you. The only thing keeping you from becoming a child of God is failure to turn from your present world and your present god, which is Satan, and make Jesus the Lord over your life.
When Jesus paid the sin price for you, He was your substitute. Heaven has it recorded that you have been set free. It is as if you yourself died on the cross 2,000 years ago. But that doesn’t mean you will automatically go to heaven. Even though God sent Jesus to pay for your sin—even though He holds nothing against you—you can still go straight to hell. Why? Because you have not made the choice to receive Jesus as your own personal Lord and Savior, to accept His sacrifice as yours. You have a free will. You have the right to choose your own destiny, God will not force you to receive salvation. The choice is yours. You can go straight to hell and God will not lift a finger to stop you. He did all He is going to do when He sent Jesus into the world.
Your choice is set before you.
If you do choose to make Jesus your Lord, God will receive you as His very own child. You will become a part of God’s family. He will be your Father and you will be His child. This is not just a theological idea; this is a fact. It actually happens. Jesus actually walked the earth as a man. He actually went to the cross, died there, was raised from the dead, and is alive today, seated at the right hand of God in heaven.
When you become a Christian—when you become born again—you take on the nature of God, your heavenly Father. The nature of sin and Satan is death; the nature of God is life. Jesus spoke to the people of His day and said, “Ye are of your father the devil” (John 8:44). To accept Jesus as your Lord causes you to turn your back on your father the devil, or on “the god of this world” as Satan is called (II Corinthians 4:4). You take on a new Father, a heavenly Father; and you are born again—not physically, but spiritually. Your spirit is reborn in the likeness of God.
You see, you are a threefold being: You are a spirit, you have a soul (mind, will, emotions), and you live in a body. Jesus referred to this in a conversation with Nicodemus (John 3:3-7).
Jesus said to him, “You must be born again.”
Nicodemus replied, “What do you mean? Do I have to go back again into my mother’s womb?”
Jesus answered, “No. What is born of the flesh is flesh. What is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
Being born again is a spiritual rebirth. You are born of the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit was sent into the earth to carry out the new birth. When you make Jesus the Lord of your life, the Holy Spirit comes to indwell you and causes your spirit to be re-created. According to II Corinthians 5:17, when you accept Jesus as your Lord, you become a new creature, or new creation; old things pass away and all things become new. As far as God is concerned, at that moment, you stand before Him as a brand-new person. You are reborn from sin and death to righteousness and new life. That is a fact.
I John 5:1-4 says, “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.... For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”
I want you to realize what happens the moment a person makes Jesus Christ the Lord of his life. In the eyes of God, he becomes a world overcomer. Sin no longer reigns over his life. Sin is no longer his lord. Jesus is His Lord and he can live above the satanic forces in the world.
After Jesus was raised from the dead, He stood before His disciples and said, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18). Then He delegated that power to His people. He said, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). What is the gospel? The good news that God is no longer holding your sins and trespasses against you.
The Bible gives some specific instructions that you are to follow in order to become a Christian, or in order to be born again. Look at Romans 10:8-11:
…The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
Jesus said, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). No matter what kind of sinner you are, no matter what you have done, you can go to Jesus and He will accept you. Once you go to Him, then He will cause you to be born again. He will re-create you, and that sin which has been plaguing you will be a thing of the past. It will be gone. You will be accepted before God as if you have never sinned!
To be born again, you use your mouth and you use your heart. First, you believe in your heart that God’s Word is true; then you confess it with your mouth because you believe it.
I want you to realize one very important fact: You don’t confess you are saved because you feel saved. Feelings have absolutely nothing to do with salvation. Let me give you an example:
Suppose someone says to you, “I went to the bank this morning and deposited $1,000 in your account.” How do you know they actually did what they said? You don’t believe they did it because you feel $1,000 richer, and you don’t doubt them just because you don’t feel any different. Your feelings really have nothing to do with it. If that person’s word is good, you will believe him. If his word is bad, you won’t.
When your salvation is involved, you are relying on God’s Word—and God doesn’t lie. He means what He says. If He said it, then you can believe it. He has said that if you believe in your heart and confess with your month that Jesus is Lord, you will be saved. You don’t base your salvation on the way you feel. You base it on the pure, unadulterated Word of Almighty God.
God’s Word is the only evidence you have that you are saved, but that is all the evidence you need!
Several days or weeks from now, you might not feel saved. You may begin to wonder if you were ever really saved to start with. You will have doubts—Satan will see to that! But when those thoughts and feelings come, just go back to the Word of God. You will see that it still says the same thing. God never changes and His Word never changes. It is still just as true today as when it was first spoken. People may try to convince you that it doesn’t work. Temptations may come to convince you that it didn’t work. Doubts will come to your mind. But all those things do not alter the fact that God’s Word is true.
Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). The moment you make Jesus the Lord of your life will be the moment you have a desire to live, instead of a desire to die. I can testify to that fact in my own life. Before I accepted Jesus as my Lord, I was headed straight to hell. Everything I liked to do was bad for me. The habits I had formed for 25 years were destructive to my body and my mind. But when I made Jesus the Lord of my life, all those desires were changed. I suddenly had a desire to get rid of my filthy habits. I had a desire to get rid of tobacco, alcohol, immoral thoughts and behavior, profanity, etc. My desires had been changed. Why? Because I was changed. The real me, my spirit, was reborn. The change in my spirit brought changes to my mind and body.
These changes are available to you, too. God is right there, ready to accept you, ready to change you. You don’t have to live in sin any longer. You don’t have to live a defeated life any longer. You don’t have to be anything except God’s child. You can walk the road of life victoriously with Jesus as your Lord and Savior. You won’t have to take a back seat to Satan again. You can be the head and not the tail!
I want you to join me now in praying this prayer for salvation. Don’t just read it; make a conscious effort to speak these words from the very depths of your being. When you finish this prayer, you will be born gain:
Heavenly Father, in the Name of Jesus, I present myself to You.
I pray and ask Jesus to be Lord over my life. I believe it in my heart, so I say it with my mouth: “Jesus has been raised from the dead.” This moment, I make Him the Lord over my life.
Jesus, come into my heart. I believe this moment that I am saved, I say it now: “I am reborn. I am a Christian. I am a child of Almighty God.”
Now, thank God for making you His child. Colossians 1:12 says, “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” You have just been made a partaker of an inheritance from God. You have just inherited the kingdom of God!
Speaking of God, the next verse says, “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have the redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.”
You don’t have to wait until you die to receive your inheritance. You are a child of God right this very moment, and you can receive all that belongs to you right now! I John 3:2 says, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God.” You have been delivered from the darkness into the kingdom of God.
Jesus said, “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32).
I welcome you into the family of God!
What is Baptism and Should I do it?
The word baptize is from the Greek verb baptidzo which means “to immerse.” The process of baptism consists of immersion, submersion and emergence. This process is used to describe John’s baptism and Christian baptism. Simply stated, to baptize is to totally immerse an object in another substance and then bring it out again.
Many denominational wars over the years concerning water baptism could have been avoided if we had just translated the Greek word for baptize properly—to immerse. When a person is baptized in water, his or her body is totally immersed in the water and brought out again.
The awesome significance of water baptism is that it symbolizes the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ and our identification with Him in them. The Scriptures refer to Jesus as being the last Adam (I Corinthians 15:21-22, 45). Jesus, in His sacrifice for us, represented us. When a person receives Jesus as Lord, he identifies fully with what happened to Jesus (Romans 6:4-6). Water baptism is a physical act that should indelibly mark the mind of the person being baptized with the reality of his union with Jesus Christ.
Water baptism also gives the believer the opportunity to openly testify to others of his born-again experience. It serves as an outward sign and testimony of an inward grace. The believer has been crucified with Christ, buried with Him and raised together with Him to walk in newness of life (Galatians 2:20; Romans 6:4).
Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” We believe it is scriptural to baptize in the Name of each of the Trinity.
Someone might ask the questions, “What was the purpose for John’s baptism?” John’s baptism served the purpose of revealing to Israel the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world (John 1:29-33). When Jesus—the Lamb of God—was baptized, it was to fulfill righteousness because He had committed no sin (Matthew 3:15-17). Jesus’ baptism also demonstrated and foretold of His own death, burial and resurrection yet to come.
Sometimes, people have confused water baptism with the baptism into the Body of Christ (being saved). In Acts 2, when Peter preached about the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, he said: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (verse 38). When a person is born again, he is baptized by the Holy Spirit into the Body of Christ. This is not water baptism. Water baptism is not the baptism that saves. It is the precious blood that Jesus shed on the cross, not water, which cleanses us from sin. (See Ephesians 1:7; Hebrews 9:22; Revelation 1:5.)
A person must be baptized into the Body of Christ (saved) before water baptism. For without first making Jesus Lord and believing that God raised Him from the dead, water baptism would have no purpose. Water baptism is an experience after salvation to confirm and strengthen your commitment to live a godly life.
The baptismal waters represent a burial ground. When you’re buried with Christ in baptism, you are proclaiming to heaven, earth and hell that the old you no longer exists. To be buried with Jesus means that your old self died to sin just as Jesus did when He was made sin for us (Romans 6:3, 6, 10-12). That’s why we are immersed. It’s a picture of burial.
Coming up out of the water signifies our being raised to new life in Christ. To be raised with Jesus means making Him Lord of every area of your life—spirit, soul and body. You’ve been bought with the blood of Jesus and you belong to Him. Every day you now ask, “Lord, where do You want me to go? What do You want me to say? What do You want me to be? Not my will, but Thy will be done.”
Romans 6:11-13 now becomes a very important scripture to us: “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.”
When we, in obedience to our Father’s Word, reckon, account and confess that we are dead to sin and alive to God through Jesus, we will experience both progress in our Christian lives and victory on a daily basis. Old habits and the relics of sin from our former lives will fall to the ground. Our minds will experience renewal and we will be living expressions of Jesus Christ in this earth.
Water baptism should be a very significant time in your life as a believer. It’s a time to fully commit to obey and follow Jesus, being willing to fulfill the purpose and plan of Almighty God for your life. This is not something just for super-Christians. It’s basic Christianity—part of the solid foundation you need to build upon.
So if you feel you’ve never properly buried your old, sinful nature and dedicated your whole self to the Lord, don’t wait any longer—find a place to participate in water baptism and get totally free!
Many denominational wars over the years concerning water baptism could have been avoided if we had just translated the Greek word for baptize properly—to immerse. When a person is baptized in water, his or her body is totally immersed in the water and brought out again.
The awesome significance of water baptism is that it symbolizes the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ and our identification with Him in them. The Scriptures refer to Jesus as being the last Adam (I Corinthians 15:21-22, 45). Jesus, in His sacrifice for us, represented us. When a person receives Jesus as Lord, he identifies fully with what happened to Jesus (Romans 6:4-6). Water baptism is a physical act that should indelibly mark the mind of the person being baptized with the reality of his union with Jesus Christ.
Water baptism also gives the believer the opportunity to openly testify to others of his born-again experience. It serves as an outward sign and testimony of an inward grace. The believer has been crucified with Christ, buried with Him and raised together with Him to walk in newness of life (Galatians 2:20; Romans 6:4).
Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” We believe it is scriptural to baptize in the Name of each of the Trinity.
Someone might ask the questions, “What was the purpose for John’s baptism?” John’s baptism served the purpose of revealing to Israel the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world (John 1:29-33). When Jesus—the Lamb of God—was baptized, it was to fulfill righteousness because He had committed no sin (Matthew 3:15-17). Jesus’ baptism also demonstrated and foretold of His own death, burial and resurrection yet to come.
Sometimes, people have confused water baptism with the baptism into the Body of Christ (being saved). In Acts 2, when Peter preached about the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, he said: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (verse 38). When a person is born again, he is baptized by the Holy Spirit into the Body of Christ. This is not water baptism. Water baptism is not the baptism that saves. It is the precious blood that Jesus shed on the cross, not water, which cleanses us from sin. (See Ephesians 1:7; Hebrews 9:22; Revelation 1:5.)
A person must be baptized into the Body of Christ (saved) before water baptism. For without first making Jesus Lord and believing that God raised Him from the dead, water baptism would have no purpose. Water baptism is an experience after salvation to confirm and strengthen your commitment to live a godly life.
The baptismal waters represent a burial ground. When you’re buried with Christ in baptism, you are proclaiming to heaven, earth and hell that the old you no longer exists. To be buried with Jesus means that your old self died to sin just as Jesus did when He was made sin for us (Romans 6:3, 6, 10-12). That’s why we are immersed. It’s a picture of burial.
Coming up out of the water signifies our being raised to new life in Christ. To be raised with Jesus means making Him Lord of every area of your life—spirit, soul and body. You’ve been bought with the blood of Jesus and you belong to Him. Every day you now ask, “Lord, where do You want me to go? What do You want me to say? What do You want me to be? Not my will, but Thy will be done.”
Romans 6:11-13 now becomes a very important scripture to us: “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.”
When we, in obedience to our Father’s Word, reckon, account and confess that we are dead to sin and alive to God through Jesus, we will experience both progress in our Christian lives and victory on a daily basis. Old habits and the relics of sin from our former lives will fall to the ground. Our minds will experience renewal and we will be living expressions of Jesus Christ in this earth.
Water baptism should be a very significant time in your life as a believer. It’s a time to fully commit to obey and follow Jesus, being willing to fulfill the purpose and plan of Almighty God for your life. This is not something just for super-Christians. It’s basic Christianity—part of the solid foundation you need to build upon.
So if you feel you’ve never properly buried your old, sinful nature and dedicated your whole self to the Lord, don’t wait any longer—find a place to participate in water baptism and get totally free!
What is the Trinity ?
Trinity, as defined by Webster’s Dictionary, is “the union of the three divine persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) in one Godhead.” God is a triune being (three in one). That means He is manifest in an absolute “Threeness”—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Yet, at the same time, He is also an absolute “Oneness.” Each One is God. However, that does not mean each One is a part of God. Each One is the whole God. Personality is not divisible. God cannot be divided. He is one in essence, in personality and in will.
The concept of the Trinity is often difficult for us to grasp because when we think of a person, we think of will, feelings and behavior peculiar to that person alone. This cannot be thought of in connection with the Trinity. Each Person of the Godhead has individual characteristics, responsibilities and operation, yet never acts independently or in opposition. There is always total unity and harmony. What a wonderful example and goal for us as believers to work toward.
While God insists on unity, at the same time He delights in diversity or variety. Think about the example we have in I Corinthians 12:12-27 where believers are likened to the very different parts of a body. Body parts are very different, yet they all work together to make one body. God created you as a unique and special individual, but encourages you to function together with other believers in order to be effective as His Body in the earth. It is a challenge and a privilege for all believers.
Within the Trinity there is also a certain order. Not an order of importance, but an order of operation and revelation. All plans or revelations come from the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit. The Father initiates, the Son proclaims (He is the Word in John 1), and the Holy Spirit executes. Each has a vital part and works together.
Isn’t it awesome that God also counts each of us worthy of having a vital part in His plan of reconciliation? No matter what “job” or function you perform in the Body of Christ, He considers it important and valuable, and so should you.
Although the word Trinity itself is not found in the Bible, the concept and revelation of the threefold activity of the Godhead begins at Creation when God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…” (Genesis 1:26). One of the ways we are made in the image of God is our own triune makeup of spirit, soul and body. Each is different in characteristic and function, yet together they make up one man.
Another example of the Trinity in operation is found at the baptism of Jesus by John in the Jordan River. God the Father spoke from heaven, and the Holy Spirit descended like a dove upon Jesus the Son (Luke 3:21-22). This was a threefold revelation of God given to man on the level of his physical senses. Throughout His entire ministry Jesus consistently spoke of His Father and Himself as being two distinct Persons, and yet being declared equal. It was one of the things He taught that infuriated the “religious” people He encountered and caused them to want to kill Him because they refused to accept its truth (Mark 2:7; John 5:18).
I John 5:7 states, “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word [Jesus], and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.” The activity of the Trinity is evident throughout the Bible, but sometimes you have to be aware and look closely.
Perhaps a good example from nature to help us understand the concept of the Trinity is water. The chemical makeup is H2O—two parts hydrogen to one part oxygen. It is also the same chemical makeup of ice and steam. They are identically the same, yet distinctly different. You can swim in water, but not in ice or steam. Each has different characteristics and functions, yet they are the same—H2O.
As with many revelations from the Word of God, understanding the Trinity is not something we can do totally with our minds—it has to be received by faith also. As you study the Bible, look for evidence of the Trinity being revealed individually as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, yet operating in total love and harmony. This is the lesson we should learn from the Trinity—we can be different in many ways, but still work together in love and unity to proclaim the gospel to a needy world.
The concept of the Trinity is often difficult for us to grasp because when we think of a person, we think of will, feelings and behavior peculiar to that person alone. This cannot be thought of in connection with the Trinity. Each Person of the Godhead has individual characteristics, responsibilities and operation, yet never acts independently or in opposition. There is always total unity and harmony. What a wonderful example and goal for us as believers to work toward.
While God insists on unity, at the same time He delights in diversity or variety. Think about the example we have in I Corinthians 12:12-27 where believers are likened to the very different parts of a body. Body parts are very different, yet they all work together to make one body. God created you as a unique and special individual, but encourages you to function together with other believers in order to be effective as His Body in the earth. It is a challenge and a privilege for all believers.
Within the Trinity there is also a certain order. Not an order of importance, but an order of operation and revelation. All plans or revelations come from the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit. The Father initiates, the Son proclaims (He is the Word in John 1), and the Holy Spirit executes. Each has a vital part and works together.
Isn’t it awesome that God also counts each of us worthy of having a vital part in His plan of reconciliation? No matter what “job” or function you perform in the Body of Christ, He considers it important and valuable, and so should you.
Although the word Trinity itself is not found in the Bible, the concept and revelation of the threefold activity of the Godhead begins at Creation when God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…” (Genesis 1:26). One of the ways we are made in the image of God is our own triune makeup of spirit, soul and body. Each is different in characteristic and function, yet together they make up one man.
Another example of the Trinity in operation is found at the baptism of Jesus by John in the Jordan River. God the Father spoke from heaven, and the Holy Spirit descended like a dove upon Jesus the Son (Luke 3:21-22). This was a threefold revelation of God given to man on the level of his physical senses. Throughout His entire ministry Jesus consistently spoke of His Father and Himself as being two distinct Persons, and yet being declared equal. It was one of the things He taught that infuriated the “religious” people He encountered and caused them to want to kill Him because they refused to accept its truth (Mark 2:7; John 5:18).
I John 5:7 states, “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word [Jesus], and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.” The activity of the Trinity is evident throughout the Bible, but sometimes you have to be aware and look closely.
Perhaps a good example from nature to help us understand the concept of the Trinity is water. The chemical makeup is H2O—two parts hydrogen to one part oxygen. It is also the same chemical makeup of ice and steam. They are identically the same, yet distinctly different. You can swim in water, but not in ice or steam. Each has different characteristics and functions, yet they are the same—H2O.
As with many revelations from the Word of God, understanding the Trinity is not something we can do totally with our minds—it has to be received by faith also. As you study the Bible, look for evidence of the Trinity being revealed individually as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, yet operating in total love and harmony. This is the lesson we should learn from the Trinity—we can be different in many ways, but still work together in love and unity to proclaim the gospel to a needy world.
How to Study the Bible ( God's Word)
As believers, most of us have probably heard over and over how important it is for us to study the Word of God. But all too often we don’t really understand why and consequently have a difficult time really getting started. So before we get into the how-tos of Bible study, let’s look at why studying the Word is vital to our Christian growth and maturity.
What a majority of Christians don’t realize is that the Word of God is alive! The Word can really affect and have a life-changing impact on your day-to-day living. God reveals Himself through His Word.
As He reveals Himself to you, you can expect your life to change because you are getting to know God Himself, not just about Him. The reason we study the Bible is that we may know God, know His ways and walk in them. Then we can truly live a successful Christian life.
The Bible is a personal message from Almighty God Himself—straight from heaven—to you. The main theme of this message is Jesus—even in the Old Testament. Jesus is the living Word, the message of God to all mankind.
Ever since the Fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden, God was unwilling to leave us in our sin and live without us. So He had a plan—the plan of redemption—when He gave His Son to pay the price for our sin on the Cross and thereby bring us back into fellowship with Him. Glory to God! So look for Jesus in every book of the Bible. All scriptures either point to the Cross or look back on it.
Settle in your mind that, while the Bible is God’s inspired Word, it was also meant to be down-to-earth. Don’t just reverently give it a place of honor on a bookshelf, but treat the Word as your personal hands-on reference book on life—a how-to book for everyday living. Get rid of the negative idea that it is just a set of rules.
God’s Word is our very source of liberty. God sent His Word to set us free, not to bind us up and load us down. So read the Word with a positive attitude, approaching it as an open door to freedom, not as a list of do’s and don’ts.
Knowing why studying the Bible is important will hopefully make it easier for you to make that quality decision followed by pure and simple grit-your-teeth determination. We suggest treating this period of study as an appointment that you’re required to attend. Then, every day, follow through by building your schedule around this appointment—and not the other way around. Soon, you’ll develop a desire to attend your study and it will become easier and easier. And if you miss an appointment once in a while, don’t worry, just get back in the flow.
As you get started studying, it is wise to use a Bible you feel free to write in and take notes. Start underlining scriptures that have significance and special meaning to you. This will help personalize the Word for you. Marking these scriptures will also help you find them more readily when you need them.
At your appointment, one of the best ways to “dig” into the Word is to find a subject or certain scriptures you need to understand. Pray for understanding and discernment of the scriptures. Allow the Holy Spirit, who inspired the Word of God, to reveal it to you. Read and think about each word in each scripture. You can check meanings, too, by using a concordance to study the Greek or Hebrew root words and their meanings.
An important part of your study of the Word is meditation. To meditate means to think deeply and continuously, ponder or reflect. It also means to murmur, to mutter and to converse with oneself. This takes some time. Read the scripture over and over again as you pray in the spirit. Meditation brings your spirit and your mind together and builds a capacity for your faith to be released (Romans 10:17). Ask the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of your understanding so you can comprehend the deep things of God. Then expect the Lord to do it. Expect Him to meet you on the level of your need and reveal His Word to you.
When starting out, spend the majority of your time in the New Testament (primarily in the letters the Apostle Paul wrote to the early churches). In light of this, we suggest you look for and underline phrases such as “in Him,” “in whom” and “in Christ.” These phrases are found 134 times in the New Testament from Acts to Revelation. Every one of them has something to offer you personally because according to Ephesians 2:6, you are in Christ!
Make what God says the authority in your life. That means we shouldn’t just believe what God says to us in His Word, but we should also act on it. Acting on it is what produces results (Matthew 7:24-27). Part of acting on the Word includes speaking it. You will find that what you really believe in your heart is what you speak all the time—and what you speak determines what happens in your life (Mark 11:23).
Once you start speaking God’s Word about your needs, do not speak anything contrary to it. For example, if you need healing, do not let the focus of your words be about your sickness. Rather, confess what the Word says about it: “By His stripes I am healed according to Isaiah 53:4-5.”
Like a sponge, soak in as much Word as possible. Then, when you are faced with a situation that requires the wisdom of God, the life of God will flow from you—through your words—to meet any man’s need on any level. And that’s the best way to study the Word—with the intent of helping and loving others as well as yourself.
To help in your study, we recommend the following:
1. Young’s Analytical Concordance—a great help in finding verses that pertain to specific situations or needs. It contains the Hebrew and Greek word translations
2. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance—a dictionary of the Hebrew, Chaldee and Greek words.
3. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words—a dictionary for scriptural words and meanings.
4. Expositions of Holy Scripture by Alexander Maclaren—a 17-volume series that includes sermons and expositions from almost every book of the Bible, and the most comprehensive index of any major expositional work.
You can also use many different translations of the Bible during your study time. To start out, you may want to use the King James Version and The Amplified Bible. Brother Copeland does the majority of his studying in these two versions. He also recommends the Worrell, Goodspeed and Wuest’s Expanded Translation. All of these helps and versions of the Bible can be found in almost any local Christian bookstore.
You can use the books and tapes of other ministers; however, do not allow them to take the place of your personal study time. Take what they have learned and allow the Holy Spirit to add to it. And, of course, no matter what material you study, be sure it lines up with God’s Word.
Here are some steps to follow in studying the Word:
Apply the Word to yourself personally.
* Allow the Holy Spirit to make the Word a reality in your heart.
* Carefully ponder how the Word applies to your everyday life.
* Dwell on how the Word changes your situation.
* See yourself as God sees you.
* Realize the integrity of God’s Word.
Here is a prayer to pray with confidence as you sit down to study and meditate on His Word:
“Father, in the Name of Jesus I come before You today. I take authority over Satan and bind his operation in my life. I pray the eyes of my understanding are enlightened that I may know how rich is Your inheritance in the saints, that I may be filled with the knowledge of Your will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, walking fully pleasing to You, increasing in the knowledge of God.
“Father, I pray I will be rooted and built up in Jesus, established in the faith. I am confident that He who began a good work in me will continue it until the day of Jesus Christ.
“I know You have heard my prayer, so I know I have the petitions that I asked. Thank You in Jesus’ Name.”
What a majority of Christians don’t realize is that the Word of God is alive! The Word can really affect and have a life-changing impact on your day-to-day living. God reveals Himself through His Word.
As He reveals Himself to you, you can expect your life to change because you are getting to know God Himself, not just about Him. The reason we study the Bible is that we may know God, know His ways and walk in them. Then we can truly live a successful Christian life.
The Bible is a personal message from Almighty God Himself—straight from heaven—to you. The main theme of this message is Jesus—even in the Old Testament. Jesus is the living Word, the message of God to all mankind.
Ever since the Fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden, God was unwilling to leave us in our sin and live without us. So He had a plan—the plan of redemption—when He gave His Son to pay the price for our sin on the Cross and thereby bring us back into fellowship with Him. Glory to God! So look for Jesus in every book of the Bible. All scriptures either point to the Cross or look back on it.
Settle in your mind that, while the Bible is God’s inspired Word, it was also meant to be down-to-earth. Don’t just reverently give it a place of honor on a bookshelf, but treat the Word as your personal hands-on reference book on life—a how-to book for everyday living. Get rid of the negative idea that it is just a set of rules.
God’s Word is our very source of liberty. God sent His Word to set us free, not to bind us up and load us down. So read the Word with a positive attitude, approaching it as an open door to freedom, not as a list of do’s and don’ts.
Knowing why studying the Bible is important will hopefully make it easier for you to make that quality decision followed by pure and simple grit-your-teeth determination. We suggest treating this period of study as an appointment that you’re required to attend. Then, every day, follow through by building your schedule around this appointment—and not the other way around. Soon, you’ll develop a desire to attend your study and it will become easier and easier. And if you miss an appointment once in a while, don’t worry, just get back in the flow.
As you get started studying, it is wise to use a Bible you feel free to write in and take notes. Start underlining scriptures that have significance and special meaning to you. This will help personalize the Word for you. Marking these scriptures will also help you find them more readily when you need them.
At your appointment, one of the best ways to “dig” into the Word is to find a subject or certain scriptures you need to understand. Pray for understanding and discernment of the scriptures. Allow the Holy Spirit, who inspired the Word of God, to reveal it to you. Read and think about each word in each scripture. You can check meanings, too, by using a concordance to study the Greek or Hebrew root words and their meanings.
An important part of your study of the Word is meditation. To meditate means to think deeply and continuously, ponder or reflect. It also means to murmur, to mutter and to converse with oneself. This takes some time. Read the scripture over and over again as you pray in the spirit. Meditation brings your spirit and your mind together and builds a capacity for your faith to be released (Romans 10:17). Ask the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of your understanding so you can comprehend the deep things of God. Then expect the Lord to do it. Expect Him to meet you on the level of your need and reveal His Word to you.
When starting out, spend the majority of your time in the New Testament (primarily in the letters the Apostle Paul wrote to the early churches). In light of this, we suggest you look for and underline phrases such as “in Him,” “in whom” and “in Christ.” These phrases are found 134 times in the New Testament from Acts to Revelation. Every one of them has something to offer you personally because according to Ephesians 2:6, you are in Christ!
Make what God says the authority in your life. That means we shouldn’t just believe what God says to us in His Word, but we should also act on it. Acting on it is what produces results (Matthew 7:24-27). Part of acting on the Word includes speaking it. You will find that what you really believe in your heart is what you speak all the time—and what you speak determines what happens in your life (Mark 11:23).
Once you start speaking God’s Word about your needs, do not speak anything contrary to it. For example, if you need healing, do not let the focus of your words be about your sickness. Rather, confess what the Word says about it: “By His stripes I am healed according to Isaiah 53:4-5.”
Like a sponge, soak in as much Word as possible. Then, when you are faced with a situation that requires the wisdom of God, the life of God will flow from you—through your words—to meet any man’s need on any level. And that’s the best way to study the Word—with the intent of helping and loving others as well as yourself.
To help in your study, we recommend the following:
1. Young’s Analytical Concordance—a great help in finding verses that pertain to specific situations or needs. It contains the Hebrew and Greek word translations
2. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance—a dictionary of the Hebrew, Chaldee and Greek words.
3. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words—a dictionary for scriptural words and meanings.
4. Expositions of Holy Scripture by Alexander Maclaren—a 17-volume series that includes sermons and expositions from almost every book of the Bible, and the most comprehensive index of any major expositional work.
You can also use many different translations of the Bible during your study time. To start out, you may want to use the King James Version and The Amplified Bible. Brother Copeland does the majority of his studying in these two versions. He also recommends the Worrell, Goodspeed and Wuest’s Expanded Translation. All of these helps and versions of the Bible can be found in almost any local Christian bookstore.
You can use the books and tapes of other ministers; however, do not allow them to take the place of your personal study time. Take what they have learned and allow the Holy Spirit to add to it. And, of course, no matter what material you study, be sure it lines up with God’s Word.
Here are some steps to follow in studying the Word:
Apply the Word to yourself personally.
* Allow the Holy Spirit to make the Word a reality in your heart.
* Carefully ponder how the Word applies to your everyday life.
* Dwell on how the Word changes your situation.
* See yourself as God sees you.
* Realize the integrity of God’s Word.
Here is a prayer to pray with confidence as you sit down to study and meditate on His Word:
“Father, in the Name of Jesus I come before You today. I take authority over Satan and bind his operation in my life. I pray the eyes of my understanding are enlightened that I may know how rich is Your inheritance in the saints, that I may be filled with the knowledge of Your will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, walking fully pleasing to You, increasing in the knowledge of God.
“Father, I pray I will be rooted and built up in Jesus, established in the faith. I am confident that He who began a good work in me will continue it until the day of Jesus Christ.
“I know You have heard my prayer, so I know I have the petitions that I asked. Thank You in Jesus’ Name.”
