Seven Ways, Truths and Reasons: Sixty-Three Stand-Alone Chapters. Each Short Chapter a Help and Encouragement in the Christian Life ‒ for Everyone. Volume 1

By Lin Wills

Sixty-three stand-alone short chapters of help in living the Christian life. There are chapters here for everyone – people who are walking towards God, people walking with God, and those walking on with God. The short chapters are arranged approximately in this order, but there is much value in the early chapters for those looking for a deeper faith.
This is not a book where you have to start at Chapter 1 and work your way through to the end. The Contents page lists the title of every chapter, so just dive in and read one that inter-ests you. Of course, you can start at Chapter 1 and read the whole book if you prefer, and our prayer is that every reader will be greatly blessed by what they read.
The majority of these sixty-three chapters have been released individually as booklets, and every chapter as individual eBooks that are available in all formats from major eBook distributors. eBooks of individual editions are available from most distributors. This whole volume is also available as a paperback from major book distributors.

• Language: English
• Publisher: White Tree Publishing
• Release date: Nov 6, 2021
• ISBN: 9781913950736

Book preview

About the Book

Here are sixty-three stand-alone chapters of help in living the Christian life. There are chapters here for everyone – people who are walking towards God, people walking with God, and those walking on with God. The short chapters are arranged approximately in this order, but there is much value in the early chapters for those looking for a deeper faith.

This is not a book where you have to start at Chapter 1 and work your way through to the end. The Contents page lists the title of every chapter, so just dive in and read one that interests you. Of course, you can start at Chapter 1 and read the whole book if you prefer, and our prayer is that every reader will be greatly blessed by what they read.

The majority of these sixty-three chapters have been released individually as booklets, and every chapter as individual eBooks that are available in all formats from major eBook distributors. The eBook editions are free from most distributors. This whole volume is also available as a paperback from major book distributors.

Seven Ways, Truths

and Reasons

Lin Wills

© Lin Wills 2022

This eBook ISBN: 978-1-913950-73-6

Also available as a paperback

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-913950-72-9

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner of this book.

Bible verses are from the

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Except 37. Seven Truths About Temptation

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Published by

White Tree Publishing

Bristol

UNITED KINGDOM

[e-mail]

For full list of books and updated information visit:

https://whitetreepublishing.com/

Chapters

Cover

About the Book

Introduction

1. Seven Reasons Why We Need Jesus

2. Seven Truths About Repentance

3. Seven Reasons to Be Born Again

4. Seven Reasons to Be Baptised

5. Seven Reasons to Be Baptised in the Holy Spirit

6. Seven Reasons for Living Water

7. Seven Truths About Passion

8. Seven Reasons to Walk by Faith

9. Seven Reasons to Celebrate Christmas

10. Seven Reasons to Live in Hope

11. Seven Ways to Overcome Fear

12. Seven Reasons to Pray

13. Seven Truths About Worship

14. Seven Ways to Be Free of Guilt and Condemnation

15. Seven Ways to Know Your Identity

16. Seven Reasons to Forgive

17. Seven Truths About Trust

18. Seven Reasons to Surrender

19. Seven Ways to Walk in Obedience

20. Seven Steps to Walking in Victory

21. Seven Truths About Love

22. Seven Truths About Peace

23. Seven Truths About Joy

24. Seven Truths About Patience

25. Seven Truths About Self-Discipline

26. Seven Ways to Guard Your Tongue

27. Seven Truths About Grace

28. Seven Ways to Know God’s Voice

29. Seven Truths About Faithfulness

30. Seven Truths About Endurance

31. Seven Reasons to Keep Focused

32. Seven Ways to Be in Alignment with God

33. Seven Truths About Motives

34. Seven Truths About Honesty and Integrity

35. Seven Reasons Not to Compromise

36. Seven Truths About Pride

37. Seven Truths About Temptation

38. Seven Truths About Anger

39. Seven Ways to Press in for Healing

40. Seven Ways to Deal with Insecurity

41. Seven Ways to Live in Wholeness

42. Seven Keys to Unlock Your Calling

43. Seven Truths About Dreams and Visions

44. Seven Ways to Avoid Burn-out

45. Seven Ways to Go for More

46. Seven Ways to Abide in Christ

47. Seven Truths About Hunger

48. Seven Truths About Maturity

49. Seven Truths About God's Promises and Provision

50. Seven Truths About Understanding

51. Seven Ways to Know God's Guidance

52. Seven Ways to Evangelise

53. Seven Truths About Discipleship

54. Seven Truths About Encouragement

55. Seven Truths About Tests and Trials

56. Seven Ways to Defeat Giants

57. Seven Truths About Power and Authority

58. Seven Truths About the Sovereignty 0f God

59. Seven Ways to Live in His Presence

60. Seven Truths About Intercession

61. Seven Truths About Unity

62. Seven Ways to Prepare for Revival

63. Seven Ways to Prepare for Christ’s Return

Lin Wills

About White Tree Publishing

Introduction

When God led me to start the Seven Series, I never imagined there would be so many titles. We are now over sixty titles, published as eBooks and booklets. A lot of people have been suggesting that I put them together in one book. So here it is, in a volume with 63 short chapters. This will make it easier for people who want to order printed copies.

As well as providing chapters of particular interest, this book can also be used as a devotional, as there are seven sections in each chapter, with plenty of Scripture references to look up in your own Bible each day.

I want to thank my very supportive husband Len. His encouragement and input, and ideas have been invaluable. I also want to thank Chris Wright of White Tree Publishing for all his support and help in so many ways. I am grateful for his God-centred input. I could not have done it without him.

I want to thank my daughter Lucy, and my son-in-law Matt for all their ongoing support and help right from the start. And thank you to my other daughter Victoria and son-in-law Laurence for their input. I also want to thank all those who constantly support us in input and in so many ways. Thank you, all, for your prayers, encouragement, gifts and love. Bless you all.

I live in England, and my husband Len and I are part of Intercessors for Bristol: Website:

http://www.intercessorsforbristol.org.uk/

We long to see God move in revival, and we have an itinerant ministry which covers a circuit of churches in our city and beyond on a regular basis.

We love to meet with God's people and encourage one another in His presence through worship, the Word of God, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Our vision is to see God’s people rise up in victory, and set on fire to be the powerful army God called us to be. We want to see all that the enemy has stolen from God’s people restored back to the Church, and prayer and intercession released like never before.

Praying that this volume will be useful and a blessing to many people.

Lin Wills

Bristol UK

Website:

www.lenandlin.com

For more details

please contact Lin Wills:

[e-mail]

eBook editions of individual Chapters are published by White Tree Publishing, publishers of over 200 Christian books available from most eBook distributors.

https://whitetreepublishing.com/

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.

(2 Timothy 3:16).

1. Seven Reasons Why We Need Jesus

From this Chapter

Many of us can feel empty, and don’t really understand why. It is because we were made by God for God. We were born with this need inside us. When we go our own way in life, and don’t count God in, we can get in a mess because we don’t understand what is really best for us.

Only God knows that. We were not made to carry guilt. Our shoulders are not big enough. When guilt weighs heavily on us, it can cause all sorts of problems ‒ mental, emotional, and physical.

When we say sorry for the wrong things we’ve done, God wipes our slate clean. He wipes it all away. We are justified, just as if we had never sinned!

1. We need to know His love

John 10:10: The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

None of us are here by accident. God created us and He put us here for a reason and purpose in His plan. Only He can fill the gap and the empty space in our lives. It’s a God-shaped gap!

Many of us can feel empty, and don’t really understand why. It is because we were made by God for God.

We were born with this need inside us. When we go our own way in life, and don’t count God in, we can get in a mess because we don’t understand what is really best for us. Only God knows that.

Our need to be forgiven is our greatest need. It says in the Bible that we have all done wrong things and need His forgiveness.

Romans 3:23-24: For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.

Jesus was sent by God into the world to die in our place on the cross. He took all our sin ‒ every sin we would ever commit from the cradle to the grave. He took our sin and carried it on Himself so we can be forgiven. God loves us so much ‒ He is only a prayer away.

John 3:16: For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.

2. We need freedom from guilt

Psalm 32:1-5: Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight! Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty! When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long.

Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. Finally, I confessed all my sins to You and stopped trying to hide my guilt.

I said to myself, I will confess my rebellion to the Lord. And You forgave me! All my guilt is gone.

We were not made to carry guilt. Our shoulders are not big enough. Guilt has very bad effects on us. It weighs heavily on us. It can cause all sorts of problems ‒ mental, emotional, and physical.

When we say sorry for the wrong things we’ve done, God wipes our slate clean. He wipes it all away. We are justified, just as if we had never sinned.

What we receive we need to give to others. God gives us the power to forgive others, so we can be set free from any resentment or bitterness from the past. Jesus sets us free (John 8:32)! We are set free so we can move on with our lives instead of being locked into our past. Jesus holds our future in His hands.

3. We need to know the truth

John 14:6: Jesus told him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me.

Jesus was the only one who could say that He was the truth! Jesus is the only way to Heaven. We can only come to God through Jesus. It is not by being good and doing good things. Going to church won’t do it either.

The only way to go to Heaven is through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Jesus is the only escape from going to an eternity without God after we die ‒ what the Bible calls Hell. Hell is eternal separation from God.

We cannot earn eternal life. Eternal life is a free gift from God. All we have to do is to accept it and ask Jesus into our hearts and lives, and say sorry for our sins.

As we do this sincerely, Jesus comes into our hearts and makes us a brand-new person on the inside. We are born again!

4. We need Him now!

Proverbs 18:24: There are friends who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother.

We need His guidance, His wisdom, and His comfort ‒ nor just when things in life get hard.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4: All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.

We need God’s strength to do what is right. Temptations that are around us can destroy our lives if we let them. Jesus teaches us how to deal with them. He dealt with them Himself, with the devil in the wilderness (Luke 4:1-12). Jesus dealt with the devil using teaching and promises from the Bible.

Jesus is the best friend we could ever have. He sticks closer to us than a brother. He never leaves us. He accepts us as we are and loves us unconditionally. He is always watching over us and knows us better than anyone else knows us ‒ even better than we know ourselves.

Psalms 139:13-16: You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank You for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvellous ‒ how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in Your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.

5. We need His peace

John 14:27: Jesus said, I am leaving you with a gift ‒ peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.

Peace of mind and heart is a great treasure. Many people today don’t have that peace. Jesus gives us a special kind of peace, one that the world cannot give us. It is the deep peace that lasts. It is not unsubstantial and easily taken away.

Jesus’ peace passes our understanding. We can know His peace in every circumstance of life. His peace is not natural, it is born from Heaven above. Jesus has given us His peace, and the world cannot take it away

Philippians 4:6-7: Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

We can talk to God about anything. He always listens when we pray. And He answers!

6. We need His joy

John 15:11: I have told you these things so that you will be filled with My joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!

Jesus gives us real joy. It is the joy that goes deep down inside us and it’s like a fountain bubbling up. We can never know real joy without Jesus. Jesus is the joy of living. It is only with Jesus that we can know real life. He is life!

The joy that Jesus gives us is not just happiness when things are going well. It is a joy in the depths of our being that is not dependent on circumstances. It is a joy that overflows, and it can only be found in Jesus!

7. We need purpose

Ephesians 1:11: Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for He chose us in advance, and He makes everything work out according to His plan.

God has a purpose for every one of us. He is a God of purpose and destiny. We were chosen by God to fulfil the purpose He has for us. We were chosen in advance

Ephesians 2:10: For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.

We were created for good works. God will guide us if we ask Him. Knowing and doing His will is the best thing for our lives. We will find great fulfilment in it. It is what we were made for!

God’s purpose for us fits us perfectly, like a glove. In doing our own thing there is an emptiness. Austrian psychiatrist Viktor Franki, a Nazi death camp survivor, said, Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life; everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfilment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated, thus, everyone's task is unique as his specific opportunity to implement it.

God created us for a specific purpose. If we ask Him, He will show us what it is. God created us with everything we need on the inside to fulfil our purpose.

A prayer

Dear Lord Jesus, I am sorry for the things I have done wrong in my life. I ask Your forgiveness. Thank You, Jesus, for dying on the cross for my sin, to set me free from guilt and shame.

Please will You come into my heart and fill me with Your Holy Spirit, and transform me by Your power.

In Jesus’ Name. Amen

If you have prayed this prayer, tell someone what you have done. Don’t keep it to yourself. You need fellowship with other believers. You cannot survive as a Christian on your own. Find a good church to belong to ‒ one that welcomes you and worships Jesus, and preaches and teaches the gospel.

Return to Table of Contents

2. Seven Truths About Repentance

From this Chapter

Real, true repentance is being sorry for our sin, sorry enough for it to change our heart and our direction with God’s help. The moment we trust in Christ we are forgiven every sin and made righteous, in right standing with God. From that point, God sees us in Christ, washed in His blood.

So we are not righteous because of what we do, but because of what He has done ‒ if we put our trust in Him. In that position of righteousness we are empowered to choose the right things, do the right things, and live the right way.

1. We all need God’s forgiveness

Romans 3:23-24: For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in His grace, freely makes us right in His sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins.

It was our sin that nailed Jesus to the cross ‒ He actually became sin for us, so we can be free from its guilt and power. He carried the full weight of it all ‒ every sin we would commit in all our lifetime. We weren’t made to carry guilt. Our shoulders are not big enough. That’s why He carried it for us. Jesus had the power to come down from the cross, but His great love for you and me kept Him there. For God so loved you and me!

On the cross, Jesus cried, It is finished. In other words, forgiveness has been done once and for all. He has broken sin’s power and grip in our lives. We have been made free from sin’s slavery ‒ free to make right choices in our lives. Choices between life or death, freedom or bondage, heaven or hell.

John 14:6: Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me.

Jesus is the only way to Heaven. There is no other way. He is the way!

Real true repentance is being sorry for our sin, sorry enough for it to change our heart and our direction with God’s help. The moment we trust in Christ we are forgiven every sin and made righteous ‒ in right standing with God. From that point, God sees us in Christ, washed in His blood.

So we are not righteous because of what we do, but because of what He has done ‒ if we put our trust in Him. In that position of righteousness we are empowered to choose the right things, do the right things, and live the right way.

1 John 1:9: If we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

If we sin, we confess, and we are forgiven. God never gets tired of us coming to Him. He never gives up on us. He is working in us by His Holy Spirit all the time, making us more and more like Jesus.

2. Don’t leave unconfessed sin in your life

Psalm 32:1-3: Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight! Yes, what joy for those whose record the LORD has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty! When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. Day and night Your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat.

David said his dishonesty made him miserable, frustrated, and weak. All his strength was gone. He admits his sins, and then experiences the peace that comes from knowing all his guilt has gone!

Every believer with an awareness of sin must confess, and keep short accounts with God. Sin hanging around is like a cancer. It eats away at our peace and joy and our strength. It also gives the devil a foothold.

When sin is tolerated, it increases. Sin left unchecked will eventually consume us and control us. It will make us blind and deceived, and it steals blessing from us.

We need to keep our lives right with God, so there is no loophole that the devil can use against us in temptation. The weight and the guilt of unconfessed sin, the stifling effect of unconfessed sin will be used against us by the devil, to bring us into self condemnation.

The devil will give us a blanketing sense of guilt, and will make us believe that we are never going to make it through life as a Christian. He finds a loophole through our weakness, and brings defeat instead of victory.

God’s blessing isn’t kept from us because of some character flaws we are working on, or our tendency to stumble from time to time. The sin we willingly hold onto does that. It keeps us from prayer. Any weakness that is constantly indulged or excused, or hidden and kept under wraps, has the power to enslave us. Ignoring our weaknesses strengthens them. The devil will make sure our weakness is fed.

Our sin has its own agenda ‒ to take control of our lives, so we miss out on God’s plan for us. We overcome our weaknesses through God’s power, through repentance and receiving His forgiveness through walking in the opposite direction ‒ walking in the light ‒ walking in the truth of God’s Word.

When we are totally dependent on God, we defeat the devil’s strategy every time

3. The power of repentance

The powers of evil were totally destroyed on the cross. When we repent of sin, the devil’s hold is broken and he has to take his hands off! Through Jesus’ blood, the grip and power of the devil is broken in our lives.

Romans 3:21-22: But now God has shown us a way to be made right with Him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

Repentance is a lifestyle. On the cross the demonic powers of darkness were conquered, they were shamed by Christ’s victory! As we humble ourselves before God and resist the devil, he has to flee from us! (James 4:7.)

When we come in repentance, and accept Christ as Lord of our lives, we are born again. We are a totally new creation

2 Corinthians 5:17: This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

We also enter into Christ’s authority and power, the transforming power of repentance. A heavenly transaction takes place in our lives. We will never be the same again!

4. The repentant heart that turns again to God

What a merciful and patient God He is. If we wander away and return again, He welcomes us with open arms!

The story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-24 shows us this. The son was impatient and greedy. He wanted his inheritance now! He wasn’t prepared to wait until his father died. It’s our own agenda and our own unwillingness to wait on God’s timing that gets us into trouble. The son ended up wasting all his money on loose living. Then comes the famine. He begins to starve. He ends up in a pigsty!

He finally comes to his senses and decides to go home to his father with a repentant heart. While he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. What a welcome!

His father didn’t ask any questions, such as, Where have you been? What did you waste all your money on? He was just so glad that his son was home again. The father’s relationship with his son was based on the fact that he had given him life and brought him into the family, not on what his son’s performance was.

The things his father gave his son that day have great significance:

The Robe. The Robe confirmed the son’s relationship God doesn’t see us in our weakness, He sees us clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

The Ring. This was a signet ring with the family seal that gave the son back the authority to do business in his father’s name.

The Party. When someone went against their father’s wishes in those days and left home, they had a ceremony of shame which meant they could never return. But this father threw a party for his repentant son. Because Jesus took our sins and our shame, we can’t work our way to Heaven.

No matter what pigsty we come from, being good doesn’t get us to Heaven. Being sorry for our sin does, and opening our heart to Jesus ‒ repenting of all the past wrongs and leaving our old life behind, and all it means.

It’s not about what we deserve or what we do. It’s about God’s love for us and what He has done for us, and how He wants us to come to Him ‒ either for the first time, or returning like the Prodigal Son. Whichever it is, our Heavenly Father runs to meet us and embraces us with open arms!

5. Repentance in revival

Repentant prayer is always prominent in Revival, which starts in you and me, allowing God to break us, to burn up all the rubbish, gets rid of the clutter in our lives. Everything that belongs to our self-life.

2 Chronicles 7:14: Then if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.

A promise from God to heal our Land if we turn from our wicked ways and seek his face.

In Revival, as the Holy Spirit moves in power, repentance becomes especially significant. As God pours out, conviction comes, not only on unbelievers. A strong sense of conviction also comes on God’s people. Where there is such a strong sense of God’s presence, people fall on their faces in repentance, crying out to God.

2 Peter 3:9: The Lord isn’t really being slow about His promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.

God doesn’t want anyone to go to a lost eternity. In Acts 2:17, God promises to pour out His Spirit in the last days. Keeping our hearts right with God is so important ‒ allowing Him to have His way in our lives so His life will shine through us. We need to be the Salt and Light that God has called us to be in these last days

6. Radical change happens through repentance

In Genesis 25:27-34 we read that Jacob was a liar and deceiver who gets his twin brother Esau to trade his birthright (inheritance).

He also lies to his father Isaac and deceives him, and pretends to be Esau his brother, to get his older brother’s blessing and inheritance from Isaac before he dies. They named him Jacob, which means deceiver.

If we fight with God every time He tells us to do something, we won’t win. Jacob had an encounter with God that turned his life around. He was never the same again. Everything that happened to Jacob in that encounter was a radical change (Genesis 32:24-30).

1. Jacob was broken. He became yielded to God and doing it his way, broken and contrite in spirit. Brokenness brings surrender

2. Jacob became totally dependent on God ‒ not on himself.

3. Jacob died to self and the flesh and his own desires.

4. Jacob knew true repentance. His heart was changed and put right with God. He admitted he was a sinner. We can’t be forgiven until we admit we are a sinner.

5. Jacob found out who he really was. He had a new identity in God. He had a name change. He realised what blessing and favour he had with God. He knew he belonged to Him!

6. Jacob was determined to be blessed by God ‒ no matter what the cost. He was willing to pay the price. His hunger for God went way past the cost. I will not let You go unless You bless me! He pressed into God with great determination.

God can’t give victory and blessing to the flesh, to our self-life. It is the broken and contrite heart that begins to experience what Divine power really means in our lives. We can’t be who we are called to be if we don’t realise who we are in God. Jacob saw who he really was for the first time.

In Jacob’s case, it was better to be limping then to be a liar and deceiver (Genesis 32:25). His heart was totally changed. The hand of God is always at work in our lives for our good.

When Jacob had been touched by God’s great hand, he stopped wrestling, and clung with weeping and pleading to the same God who wounded him (Hosea 12:4-5).

Jacob was given the glorious name of Israel, meaning the Prince with God. Why did God ask Jacob his name? He wanted Jacob to admit that he was a sinner. His name depicted this. What a change of heart, what a turnaround! Total transformation!

In God’s presence we can let it all go, without losing anything ‒ but gaining everything.

7. Shout it from the rooftops!

Psalm 107:2: Has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out! Tell others He has redeemed you from your enemies.

God will always give us another chance, no matter how badly we fail. Jonah 2:7: As my life was slipping away, I remembered the LORD. And my earnest prayer went out to You in Your holy Temple.

When Jonah had disobeyed God, and was in the belly of the big fish, he prayed, "When I had lost all hope, I made a choice to turn. I turned my thoughts to the Lord, to Him in repentance and worship, and my earnest prayer went to You. I will never worship anyone but You." Then the Lord orders the big fish to spit Jonah up on the beach.

Jonah made the right choice. He changed his focus. He repented and worshipped, then he surrendered ‒ and God answered his prayer. God gave Jonah a second chance

King David’s sins were like front page news, yet God restored him. When God raises us up and restores us, it is by His grace alone. We need to say so, and not let the devil silence us when we tell others what God has done for us. Then someone else will be blessed and set free.

We have been redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and we need to say so!

A prayer

Jesus, help me to know Your forgiveness in my heart ‒ to keep my heart and life right before You. Help me to say sorry for any sin as soon as I am aware of it ‒ to keep short accounts with You.

Help me not to hang onto anything that is not right with You and Your Word. Help me to walk in Your light. If I’ve wandered away from You, draw me back home to my loving Heavenly Father’s open arms.

Help me to surrender my life wholly to You.

In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Return to Table of Contents

3. Seven Reasons to be Born Again

From this Chapter

If we have asked Jesus into our hearts, and said sorry for our sin, then we have Eternal Life! We know we will go to Heaven when we leave this earth. We know we are BORN AGAIN. In John’s Gospel chapter 3 we read how Nicodemus came to see Jesus at night. He was a Jewish religious leader who didn’t want anyone to see him.

Jesus tells him that unless he is born of the Spirit of God he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. He explains to Nicodemus that we are born naturally of water from our mother’s womb, but we must be born again by God’s Spirit to enter into newness of life.

1. The Word of God says so!

1 John 5:11-12: And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.

If we have asked Jesus into our hearts, and said sorry for our sin, then we have Eternal Life! We know we will go to Heaven when we leave this earth. We know we are BORN AGAIN!

In John’s Gospel chapter 3 we read how Nicodemus came to see Jesus at night. He was a Jewish religious leader who didn’t want anyone to see him. Nicodemus knew that Jesus was sent from God to teach them. He saw the miracles and knew that they proved that Jesus was sent from God. Jesus tells him that unless he is Born Again he will never get into the Kingdom of God.

Nicodemus doesn’t understand. He asks, How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?

Jesus tells him that unless he is born of the Spirit of God he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. He explains to Nicodemus that we are born naturally of water from our mother’s womb, but we must be born again by God’s Spirit to enter into newness of life.

Men can only reproduce human life, but the Holy Spirit gives us New Life from Heaven.

2. We all need forgiveness

Romans 3:23-24: For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in His grace, freely makes us right in His sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins.

We have all sinned, and need God’s forgiveness. There are no exceptions! We might say we have done good deeds, we go to church, we are a good person, we help people when we can. These are good things, but they will never get us into Heaven.

Jeremiah 17:9: The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?

We need a heart change. A new heart, new desires. The only way to Heaven is through Jesus. Jesus is the only way. That’s why God gave His only Son, to die on a cross for you and me. Jesus was blameless, spotless, without sin. He became sin. He was there in our place. He carried all our sin on Himself, so we could be set free from its hold and tyranny in our lives.

Romans 5:15: But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ.

Adam’s sin caused many to be sinners, but through Jesus Christ many were made acceptable to God. Justified, just as if I’d never sinned! Jesus took it all. On the cross He cried, It is finished. Everything that had to be done was completely fulfilled at that moment. Once and for all time our salvation have been paid for ‒ in full!

3. We all have a past

The moment we receive Jesus into our hearts and confess our sin, a transaction takes place. All our past record is washed away, as if it was never there. The slate is wiped clean.

When Jesus died, He died for all our sin, past, present, and future. His forgiveness is by grace and grace alone. It is not because of anything we have done, but it’s about what He has already done.

God doesn’t make us learn a lesson before He forgives us. He doesn’t want us to be miserable for a few days, because whatever we do we cannot earn God’s forgiveness. It is freely given to us.

It is the undeserved favour of God. So we need to forgive ourselves, and honour him by agreeing with Him that we are totally and freely forgiven. Let the past be the past

Philippians 3:13: No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.

We can’t get a secure hold on the future without releasing our hold on the past. When we are willing to forget the past we need to put it aside. We can’t reach forward, unless we put the past behind us.

4. We need a friend

Proverbs 18:24: There are friends who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother.

We can talk honestly with God about where we are coming from, what we feel, think and desire. Jesus is the greatest Friend we will ever have. He is the One who sticks closer than a brother. Many friends will let us down. They are there for a while, and then they go, for whatever reason.

This Friend loves us unconditionally. He always will love us, and will never love us any less or more than He does right now His love is fixed, no matter what we do or don’t do. He accepts us totally as we are right now. He knows everything about us, all the faults and failings, all the details ‒ but loves us totally and eternally.

He wants us to receive and embrace His unconditional love for us. He wants us to love ourselves in a healthy way. He wants us to give His love away. The more we give, the more we receive.

There is an old saying, In prosperity our friends know us, but in adversity we know our friends. They are the people we can trust in times of trouble. If we want friends, we also have to be one!

We need friendship with the right people ‒ those who stick by us, no matter what.

God can bring such people or a person across our