Accepting Jesus in our lives is to confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead, meaning that we make Him our Lord and Savior. He is our Lord when He is in total control of every area of our lives (i.e. when we consult Him about everything), and He is our Savior when we believe He is the only One who can save us from the bondage of sin. Having said that we need to know that whether we are black, white, burgundy, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, religious or not, we all need Him. We were all born in a system and since mankind lost its dominion over Earth due to our first parents’ sin (Adam and Eve), the world has been under the rulership of that system, including us, our children, our grandparents, and our great-grandparents.
This system is not political, educational, academic, or financial. It is an invisible system that works against us daily and manifests itself in the natural realm as political, social, educational, and monetary issues often seen as hate, pride, violence, bitterness, resentment, greed, wrath, slander, envy, jealousy, lust, gluttony, slothfulness, and death (physical/spiritual) and they are all called sin.
However, God in His Omniscience foreknew about the system and already had a plan in motion even before the foundation of the world, called “the plan of redemption.” This plan was about Jesus coming down to the earth from heaven to give us back what we have lost, which is our dominion here on planet Earth. That authority was given to us by God, but it was stolen from us by Satan. Therefore, the sacrifice of Jesus made it possible for us to reconcile with God and reclaim what He had already declared our birthright.
Also, we need Jesus because He is the only One who has lived this life that we live in, died, and resurrected. So, if we have uncertainties about life and the challenges that we are facing, Jesus is the answer because He is the expert. We also need Jesus because you and I struggle with something called “sinful nature” and Jesus came to show us that we don’t have to be bound to sin if we take His yoke upon us, which is easy. And for every sin that exists, Jesus is the way of escape. He is the Master who recommends us to learn from Him and as crazy as it sounds, He also advises us to buy refined gold, white clothes, and eye salve from Him. He doesn’t even ask us to pay for these things because He already paid the price. He has gone ahead of us to show us how to overcome sin and life’s challenges through His available grace.
Another reason we need Jesus is that when He came to earth, He also brought the Good News of the Kingdom of God. This News allows all of us access to God without needing to go to a priest to sacrifice animals. It is direct access to the Father in Jesus’ name meaning we must accept Him first. Without accepting Jesus first, there is no liberation from sin and there is no access to the Kingdom of God, which is the all-powerful invisible system. It is greater than any other systems that exist in the natural and supernatural.
After accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we still need Him for a lifetime program called “purification and sanctification” performed by His Spirit because we are still being saved. It is important to be in this program because of our sinful nature. The truth is there is no good in us so we need to be transformed to Christ’s likeness until He returns, and this conversion will not be done overnight. I believe that’s why Jesus said in John 15: 4 “Remain in Me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me.” Also, we must remain in the Word of God because Jesus is the Word made flesh.
And lastly, we need Jesus because of whom we are fighting against. Since it is already mentioned above the type of system we are dealing with, our attacks will not come from flesh and blood. They will come from an invisible realm, but Satan will use flesh and blood to confuse us; trying to get us to think that it is a physical or natural fight. The Bible says in 1 Peter 5:8 “Your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.” The devil is the father of all lies and his only desire is to kill, steal, and destroy which means he is on a mission, and we need to be on a mission as well. It is so easy to think that we are smarter than the devil. We assume that just because we cannot see him with our naked eyes, then we cannot be deceived by him. But the truth is, Satan is a master at what he does. We cannot see him but he can see us, we can only stand against him under the authority of Jesus which comes by remaining in Him and using the weapons He has given us to resist the devil and fight the good fight of faith, such as prayer, fasting, praise and worship, and the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Jesus is the only One who has already defeated Satan’s power. Satan’s fate is already destined for hell, which is why he is after our souls; he is trying to take as many people as possible to his destination. However, he fails to realize that hell is his destination, not ours.
Therefore, we gladly accept Jesus’ invitation and reject the devil’s plan because we know Jesus already won the war, and “everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:13.
SCRIPTURES
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8
“For all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.” John 1:12
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