People who come back to God find that certain things need to happen with them personally. And as they connect with fellow believers, they discover several values that are essential for personal transformation with others in community.
Here are three major things God wants you to personally engage with:
1). Receive God’s gift of grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Admit your stuff (“I’m sorry”). Trust God to forgive and restore you to himself through Jesus’ death on the cross (“Thank you”). Ask God into your life (“Please come in”).
“Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.” (Romans 5:1 NLT).
2). Discover God’s unconditional love for you and the confidence you can have in your relationship with Christ. In Christ, you are made new and are adopted into God’s new family!
“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1-2 NASB).
3). Respond to God’s freely-given grace by extending God’s grace to others. Your life is no longer your own; you now are free to love and serve God and others with abandon!
“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. (Romans 12:1-2 NLT).
