Daily Encounter: A Week-day Devotional by a staff of ACTS International.

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

"Behold, I [Jesus] stand at the door [of your heart and life] and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me."¹¹

Yesterday and Monday we explained what God's Good Newsâ€"that is, the gospel, is all about. It is a message about God, a message about sin, a message about Jesus Christ, and a summons to faith and commitment.

Sad to say, some churches give a good presentation of God's gospel message but never give listeners the opportunity to make a commitment to accept Jesus as their Savior. I believe there are many church members who understand the gospel and are ready to accept Jesus, but have never been invited to do so. I say this because it is my understanding that so many of the people who made their commitment to Jesus at a Billy Graham crusade were church members.

It isn't enough just to believe in our head that Jesus is the Son of God and that he died on the cross for our sins. The devil knows and believes that. True, we need to believe this, but we also need to accept God's offer of forgiveness and gift of eternal salvation to come into our heart and life as Savior and Lord. It also involves making a commitment of our will to follow Jesus.

Jesus said, "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door [of his/her heart and life], I will come in and eat with him, and he with me."¹¹

Again, if you have not yet opened the door of your heart and invited Jesus to come in and asked for God's forgiveness, and made a commitment of your life to Jesus, I would like to give you that opportunity again today. The following prayer will help you to do this:

"Dear God, I confess that I am a sinner and am sorry for all the wrongs that I have done. I believe that your Son, Jesus Christ, died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sin for which I am truly thankful. Please forgive me for all my sins, and I invite you, Jesus, to come into my heart and life as Lord and Savior. I commit and trust my life and will to you. Please give me the desire to be what you want me to be and to do what you want me to do. Thank you for dying for my sins, for your free pardon, for your gift of eternal life, and for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus name, Amen."

If you prayed this prayer and truly meant it, please let us know by filling in the form at: http://www.actsweb.org/decision.php. (Be assured that we have a strict privacy policy and will never give any of your information to anyone.)

If you need further help read "How to Be Sure You're a Real Christian" at: www.actsweb.org/christian.

11. Revelation 3:20 (NIV).

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