TO THE FIRST DAY OF
THE REST OF YOUR LIFE:

S A L V A T I O N

Welcome back, friends! If you have decided you want Jesus in your life, I'd like to talk to
you for a moment first about what you are about to do. If you are ready to surrender....if
you can take a good, long, honest look at your life and admit that just maybe it's a mess,
or no matter what you do or try, people always always always let you down, or things
don't ever go quite right, or you feel that it's ALWAYS one thing after another. Maybe
you're one of those people who's life philosophy is 'I get up, eat, go to work/school, come
home, eat, go to bed, get up, eat...' (or another way I've heard it said, "Hey, you're born,
you live and work, you die"). You could even be living the "American Dream"...you've
got a wife (or husband), 2.5 kids, a dog, a mortgage, an SUV. Maybe you just can't face
each day without a drink or some weed. What I'm saying is that there is always something
missing....something not quite right...you may not even be able to put your finger on it. That
missing 'thing' is caused by a hole in your soul - it's "the God spot" - the emptiness deep
inside you where God, when He created you, made for Himself, where He SHOULD be
but isn't. And you'll never have enough sex, enough drugs, enough money, enough friends,
enough success, enough toys to fill that hole...IT WILL REMAIN EMPTY UNTIL THE
DAY YOU DIE UNLESS YOU LET GOD FILL HIS RIGHTFUL PLACE WITHIN
YOU. So I ask you....just how happy ARE YOU with an empty hole inside?!?!

See, we are SPIRIT-beings...spirits wrapped in skin (flesh) molded from clay (DIRT!!!) -
housed in this clay earthly vessel, on our way to eternity. Eternity....where??? That's up
to you, determined by whether or not you choose Jesus as Saviour or not...but you
WILL live forever. Will you it be in Heaven? Hell? That's why Jesus is called "saviour".
Because He saves up from death. He saves up from hell. And perhaps you don't think
hell is real or no big deal. It's definitely not like the movies. Hell is non-stop torment.
Fire. It's every sinful desire manifested that you can't satisfy...like a smoker needing
a smoke, or a drug addict needing one more high (only a million times worse!)...you
will always be in a place of awareness of what you could have had but will never get.
Imagine torment 24-7 for EVER. No relief. No "time-out". Not one moments' peace.
No cool drop of water for your parched tongue. No rescue from that rooftop as the
flames rise higher, ever higher, ever hotter.

And seriously this is NOT a fire and damnation message (even though hell really would
be...fire and damnation). What this salvation thing is REALLY ABOUT is getting to
know the one who created you. Getting to meet the person who defines the meaning
of LOVE because He IS love! It's about becoming all that you were meant to be. It's
about being molded and fashioned into the person God created you to be. YOU have a
destiny!!! A purpose!!! It's not fate or karma or chance, it's that before the world even
existed - before Genesis Chapter 1, God decided YOU were going to exist. YOU were
His love, His own. And He ordained the day, hour, and year that you would be born.
He made you so you could know Him, walk with Him, rule and reign with Him for ever!
Doesn't that speak to you? Don't you want to know the answer to "who am I?"...
"Why was I born?"...."What's my purpose?".

God wants you to know that He's a radical God. He's not just sitting quietly in Heaven
pointing an accusing finger of damnation, ready to hit you over the head with a stick.
Jesus was a radical man! He came to earth as a man, gave up His power and divinity,
became like you and like me, and SHOOK THINGS UP! So much so that NOTHING
has been the same since! He is someone you can trust. He's got your back. He died so
you could live. Personally I have never had ANYONE in my life who ever loved me a
fraction of what it would take to DIE FOR ME. DO YOU? Really? There's really no
one on this earth that we can trust. Many can't even trust themselves! Seriously!
How many times have you tried to change or break a habit or keep a New Year's
resolution but couldn't? Our flesh ...this skin house we're in...it's SINFUL! Did you
ever notice how, with infants and small children, you never have to teach a child to
do something wrong or 'be bad'?! They seem to go straight for the WRONG. Instead
we have to teach them to do RIGHT, to be "good"...?!?

WE WERE BORN SINNERS! That's a harsh, even offensive reality, but seriously,
it's the truth.

God is the answer you seek.

Did you see "The Matrix"? Trinity says to Neo, "It's the question that drives you...what's
the question...". To which Neo responds "What is the Matrix". Then he meets Morphius,
who offers him the red or blue pill - and once he takes it he can never go back. The
questions that drive you....the who?...what?...when?...where?....why?... how?...can
all be answered by: GOD. God is your answer today. He'll be your answer tomorrow.
He'll be your answer for all eternity. And once you meet Him?
You'll never want to go back.

Do you want to put it off? Give it some thought? Do you seriously choose one more day
of life as you know it, feeling empty inside? What if you don't wake up tomorrow?
(Hey, it happens!).
Or....
Do you want to find fulfillment! Peace! Joy! Love! Assurance! Hope! Life!
Your choice.
(And THAT is how MUCH GOD LOVE'S YOU - He even gives YOU the CHOICE!)
If you choose the latter, keep reading....

So, just what IS salvation? It's deliverance or preservation (as in spiritual and eternal
deliverance) granted immediately by God to those who accept His conditions of repen-
tance and faith in the Lord Jesus, in whom alone it is to be obtained. (Meaning, there IS
no other way to get it...Jesus is THE ONLY WAY to heaven, eternal life). Acts 4:12 in
the Bible says, "Salvation comes no other way; no other name has been or will be
given to us by which we can be saved, only this one."

When Jesus was here the first time (He's coming back a second time by the way...),
He told a story about a rich man and Lazarus in the Book of Luke, Chapter 16,
verses 19 through 31 (from "The Message"): "There once was a rich man, expensively
dressed in the latest fashions, wasting his days in conspicuous consumption. A
poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, had been dumped on his doorstep.
All he lived for was to get a meal from scraps off the rich man's table. His best
friends were the dogs who came and licked his sores. "Then he died, this poor man,
and was taken up by the angels to the lap of Abraham. The rich man also died and
was buried. In hell and in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham in the distance
and Lazarus in his lap. He called out, "Father Abraham, mercy! Have mercy! Send
Lazarusto dip his finger in water to cool my tongue. I'm in agony in this fire.'"But
Abraham said, "Child, remember that in your lifetime you got the good things and
Lazarus the bad things. It's not like that here. Here he's consoled and you're
tormented. Besides, in all these matters there is a huge chasm set between us so
that no one can go from us to you even if he wanted to, nor can anyone cross over
from you to us.'"The rich man said, "Then let me ask you, Father: Send him to the
house of my father where I have five brothers, so he can tell them the score and warn
them so they won't end up here in this place of torment.'"Abraham answered, "They
have Moses and the Prophets to tell them the score. Let them listen to them.'""I
know, Father Abraham,'he said, "but they're not listening. If someone came back to
them from the dead, they would change their ways.'"Abraham replied, "If they won't
listen to Moses and the Prophets they're not going to be convinced by someone who
rises from the dead.'" See, none of us can do life the right way without Him. Every
choice, every decision, every move leads to death....except for one: accepting Him,
inviting Him into our heart.

What is sin? It's missing the mark, not walking in the way God has set for you. First, you
need to know and believe that no one is without sin, because God says in Romans 3:10
("The Message"), "There's nobody living right, not even one". For we all have sinner,
as God has said in Romans 3:23, "Since we've compiled this long and sorry record as
sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the
glorious lives God wills for us". Where did our sin come from? God says in Romans 5:12:
"You know the story of how Adam landed us in the dilemma we're in--first sin,
then death, and no one exempt from either sin or death."
We need to believe we are a sinner.

Second, there is a price to pay for our sin, God says in Romans 6:23 ("The Message"),
"Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God's gift is
real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master." God says that the payment
of sin is death, but He gave us a gift, eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus
Christ died for us. It says in Romans 5:8, "God commendeth His love toward us,
in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Christ paid the debt
for our sins. We need to believe that Christ paid the debt for our sins on the cross.

Thirdly, we need to believe and confess that Christ rose from the dead. God says in
Romans 10:9-10(KJV), "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, the Lord
Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart 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."

Fourthly, we need to take God at His word. He says in Romans 10:13 (KJV), "For
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

John 3:16 ("The Message") says, "This is how much God loved the world: He gave his
Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by
believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life."

God is asking you right now to take Him at His word...to believe in Him, to accept
Him into your life forever as Lord, Saviour, King. This is what we call "salvation".
Jesus said, "I am the door, if anyone enters by me, he will be saved..." (John 10:9).

Some people say that salvation is really hard, then being a Christian is easy. That's
really not true. You've just read the scriptural aspects of being saved, and there is
a prayer below that you will read out loud if you're sure you'd like to give your heart
to God. What you need to know before you say that prayer is that getting saved is
the EASY part. Walking with God is probably the hardest thing you'll ever do.
It's about surrendering. About giving up your way of doing things so that God can
use you for His eternal purposes. A lot of people get saved, then they live there life
exactly like they did before. That isn't even Godly. People make their own life and
then think ah-ha, now I have God, so he'll just bless MY decisions and choices.
WRONG. Giving your life to God means ASKING GOD WHAT THE PLAN
IS...it's doing things HIS way and forgetting about your own plans and goals.
Seriously, if your life was messed up and lacking before, why would you want to
get right with God, invite Him in, then go back to that same life? God has the BEST
life ahead for you. The "getting there" is ROUGH - because dying HURTS. Did
you see "The Passion of the Christ" by Mel Gibson? The scene that made people
wince where Jesus was beaten and pulverized....we get to experience that! NOT
the way He did - He simply took the punishment WE DESERVED. NOW we are
to become like Him - He is our role model, our goal, our prize. He died so we
could live. We belong to Him. And so we give Him our all, our love, our lives - it's
so AWESOME! He never leaves us alone - never makes us do what we can't
handle. He never makes us go through something without Him. He is ALWAYS
WITH YOU. ALWAYS. Because this thing I call dying - allowing our egos and
self and our plans and everything we thought was 'us' to be killed by God so He
can then make us into the person He had in mind all along - THAT is what dying
is. And when you die THIS death, it's the only death you'll ever die. Because from
this moment forward, you'll live forever in paradise! You also don't have to try to
change yourself to become like Him - HE does the changing! All YOU have to do
is surrender....be willing....say "yes"!

So.....are you ready??? I invite you to come and meet my Lord. He is a wonderful,
kind, caring, loving God who has made my life one of beauty, joy, peace - in the
midst of every victory, Jesus is there. In the midst of every trial, He is there. The
life I've personally led has been one of much sorrow and pain - but every moment
was beautiful, every moment brought wisdom and revelation, every moment helped
make me who I am today, helped to make me less so that Christ could be more
in me and through me....EVERY MOMENT WAS MEANINGFUL....God
protected me, walked through it with me, got me out of it, gave me His every
moment....there is nothing you will go through from this day forward where you'll
be alone. The beauty of His love and presence in my life every moment of every day
causes me to weep with joy. I can't even put the beauty of my life in Him into words.

Keep in mind that simply saying the prayer doesn't take all your troubles away. God
does, however, give us peace and guidance with our daily problems, and we need to
grow in His word, grow in intimate relationship with Him, to come to know what His
perfect will is for our life.

Your life can change forever...you will be forever blessed. The Bible says: "For
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
(Romans 10:13).

Are you ready to call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ?

If you have made the choice to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior you may say
the following version of what has been dubbed "The Sinner's Prayer" that the Lord
gave me to give to you. He had me take several prayer examples and put them all
together just for you. This prayer is a way to express your new found faith in Jesus.
The prayer and the words themselves do not provide for salvation, but the belief in
what these words mean - the free salvation of God - is what is important to God.
(Prayer is talking with God. God knows your heart and is not so concerned with
your words as He is with the attitude of your heart). You should take a moment
to read it through first so you know what you are committing yourself to, and
then when ready, READ IT OUT LOUD:

Dear God in Heaven,
I know that You are waiting here
for me to let You come into my life
I know that You are right now
knocking on the door of my heart
So I come to you now, in the name
of Jesus, and I invite you to enter in.

I pray that You will come into my life,
come into my heart as Lord and Saviour,
ruling over me. I know that You are truly
the only begotton Son of God, Jesus Christ,
Who shed Your precious blood on the cross
at Calvary and that You willingly died for
my sins. You said in Your Holy Word,
Romans 10:9, that if we confess the Lord
our God and believe in our hearts that God
raised Jesus from the dead, we shall be saved.
So right now I confess Jesus as
the Lord of my soul.
With my heart, I believe that God
raised Jesus from the dead.
I know that only You can save my soul.
I acknowlege to You that I am a sinner
I need Your guidance, and I need Your love;
I want to follow everywhere You lead.
I truly do repent of all my sins
and the life that I've lived;
I feel sorry for evil I have done;
and I ask you to forgive me.
I know that only Your precious blood
can make me clean.
I willingly turn my back on sin
as I now look to You,
commiting myself to You
I willingly choose to forgive all
who did me harm in the past
just as You are now forgiving all my sins.
Be my Savior. Be my Lord.
Be my soon coming King.
This very moment I accept Jesus Christ
as my own personal Savior and
according to His Word, right now
I am saved.

Thank you Jesus for your unlimited grace
which has saved me from my sins
I thank you for committing Yourself to me
I thank You for taking me just as I am
Draw me, step-by-step, into Your arms.
Transform my life so that I may bring
glory and honor to you alone and never to myself.
Thank You for taking charge of my life...
make me the way You want me to be.
Thank you Jesus for dying for me
and for giving me eternal life.
In Jesus' holy name I pray, Amen.

Congratulations, dear brother and sister in Christ! Today you have joined the ranks of born-again Christians,
radical, on fire, sold out believers in Jesus. At the moment you started this prayer, heaven held it's collective
breaths....and when you finished this prayer, all of heaven - the angels, the elders, the saints, The Father,
Jesus, EVERYONE sang and rejoiced!!! Welcome to the family of Almighty God.

I'm going to work on "I'm Saved...What Now?!?" as quickly as I can. In the meantime, you need to get your
hands on a Bible. I have almost every version (you will find that there are quite a few)...when I first got saved
and even to this day the Lord had me read the King James Version. However He has also allowed me to read
"The Amplified Bible" which takes the original Greek and Hebrew text and really expands it out. But my new
favorite is called "The Message" New Testament Bible by Eugene H. Peterson (ISBN 1-57683-430-1). You
can get it at any Christian bookstore...it's $5.99, and where you should start(in the New Testament)...you
need to know more about Jesus, and this is the part of the Bible you will focus on first. "The Message" is
in contemporary, everyday language and is really easy to understand. It really (even after 21 years of Bible
study) touches me deeply the way the author has written it. You'll see...it's awesome! There is a ministry
locally (and internationally, but based here in my city) called LeSEA (I am not affiliated with them in
any way). They give away free King James version Bibles. Simply click here: SPREAD THE WORD.
You should concentrate on The Book Of John, Romans, Acts...this will get you started.

I wish I could give you a big hug. This is your day! Write it down somewhere.."Today...(dd/mm/y) is my
new birthday - today I was born-again. Today my life has changed forever".

More to come in the next section....and feel free to browse my page (the things that are done have the yellow
"new" or green "updated" message....I have a LOT of work to do but you're welcome to read whatever is
available at the moment.

Before you go, let me pray for/with you:

Father, thank you for this precious one,
this one who surrendered their life to you
and now will spend forever with you in heaven.
I pray a hedge of protection around them...
keep them safe. I cancel all assignments of the
enemy....satan, you have no power against this
babe of Christ's. New child of God, may God reveal
His love, glory, grace, peace, joy to you this day....
may you run straight to a quiet place and hunger to
know Him. Fill them, Lord, with holy hunger to know
You more, to want to devour Your word, to long to
do Your will. Give them Godly dreams and visions,
angelic visitations. Do a quick work in them O God,
for the hour is short and Your return near. I plead
Your precious blood, Jesus, from the top of their
head to the souls of their feet. May they feel
Your loving embrace even this moment.
In Jesus Matchless Name I pray...
Amen and amen.

In His Unfailing Love,
His Messenger, Rhonda