Once Dead now Alive

How do we change the world to be a better place for our children and the future? You have to be able to change the heart to have any long lasting effect. God was telling us the plain truth when he spoke through his prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 17:9-10 in the Old Testament. “The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out. But I, God, search the heart and examine the mind. I get to the heart of the human. I get to the root of things. I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be.” This is a very powerful bible verse telling us how we all have sinful hearts because of the original sin that we inherited from Adam the first created human. God is perfect and he is the standard on which we should judge ourselves. We all have fallen short of his perfection and cannot be in the presence of a Holy God while having a sinful heart. We cannot make up for our sin by being a “good” person or doing good works. These things do not remove our sin stained heart. The only thing that can truly heal and save us from separation from God (hell), is receiving a new heart from God. This is obtained by believing that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior and that he is visible image of the invisible God. You can’t just believe in him to be saved. The demons believed in him and were not saved because they were not obedient to him. To be saved, we have to believe in Christ, be obedient to him, and give up our life of sin. In the book of Acts the apostle Peter said that to receive eternal life you have to, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” Acts 2:38. When we do this we receive a new heart which is that of the Holy Spirit of God. Through him we are able to conquer death and this world. He enables us to overcome strongholds and sin through His power. His heart gives us the ability to not want to sin (the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin) because it is contrary to who God is. Sin no longer has power over you. Once we are saved through Christ, his Spirit should produce his fruit in our life which is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). This is evidence that we are saved and of God. You are not saved by good works but made by God to do good works to show proof that we are his children. Apostle Paul in Ephesians 2:10 states “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them”. If we focus on Christ and remain in him, and follow the power of the Holy Spirit, we will automatically strive to love, serve, and to make the world a better place because that is the heart of Jesus. He came to show the world the Truth which is himself and how to really change the world by loving Him and your fellow man. Jesus said “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself”. Matthew 22:37-39.