You Are Fervently Prayed For

Dear Daughters,

My greatest desire and constant prayer is that you will trust Jesus early on in life and follow hard after Him all your days, that you will love and trust and obey Him, that you will love Him and His Word and His ways, that you make Him known to the nations, and that your life will bring Him glory and fame. 

But before that can happen, you have to know why this is so important. God created everything and lovingly created us to be in relationship with Him. God is so good and gracious, but when the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, were tempted to disbelieve God, they succumbed to it and turned from God. And so, we are all born into sin. I am a sinner; you are a sinner. And our sin, our disobedience from God, separates us from Him because God is perfect and holy, blameless and righteous.

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
​{Romans 3:23}

And the punishment for sin is death. I know it sounds scary, but I have to tell you because I love you. Just hang tight with me until the end because I promise there is hope. There is good news. Great news.

"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
{Romans 6:23}

Sin leads to death. But God in His great mercy and love and grace made a way for us to live. He sent His Son Jesus to come and dwell with us. Jesus, being mysteriously and miraculously fully God and fully man, lived the perfect life and then died on the cross where He took on Himself the full wrath of God for all of our sins. 

"But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." 
{Romans 5:8}

"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
​{2 Corinthians 5:21}

Jesus died on our behalf. And then three days later He rose from the dead, conquering sin and death. He later ascended into heaven where He intercedes on our behalf and awaits His time to come again and bring His Bride, the Church,  His followers, home with Him. 

"For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received:  that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures."
{1 Corinthians 15:3-4}

So the only way to heaven, the only way to God, is to repent of your sins and believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior. We have the choice to believe what God has said about Himself and about us and trust in Jesus and spend eternity with Him in heaven, or reject Him and all He has said and spend eternity apart from Him in hell. Once we turn from our sin and trust Him as Lord and Savior, we are forever free from condemnation and there is absolutely nothing that can separate us from the love of God or His presence with us. 

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." 
{Ephesians 2:4-1-}

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
​{Romans 8:1}

This great message, the gospel, is the most important thing you will ever hear. It will shape your earthly life and your eternal future. It is what gives life purpose and meaning, joy and hope. We are able to persevere through this life because Jesus has gone before us, strengthens us, remains with us with His Holy Spirit, and has gone ahead of us to prepare a place for us with Him. This gospel message is one of grace. You can't earn God's love or earn salvation. It is a gift; it is His grace. We simply must accept it by faith. 

I pray that you fix your eyes on Jesus and hold fast to Him. I pray that God draws you near to Him and that you taste His goodness. I pray you know your need for a Savior and humbly submit to the lordship of Christ. Nothing else matters except for what is done for Jesus. Following Him is indeed costly, but not nearly as costly as rejecting Him. And it is so worth it. So very worth it. 

Praying To Be Your Sister In Christ,
Mama