Would you like to live forever? This is what Jesus
is talking about when he tells Nicodemus how to have eternal life.
Eternal life is living forever with God, in heaven.
Many people wonder what happens to us when we die.
I've never died, so I can't tell you from personal experience, but Jesus
has, and He's come back to tell us.
He said heaven is incredible and awesome. In heaven there's no crying, no pain, no suffering, no
fear, no darkness, no night. None of the things that are scary
about this world will be there.
There will be peace in heaven. Even lions and
lambs will lay down and sleep next to each other without one killing the
other.
Most of all, we get to be right there with God every
day, forever.
But how do we get to heaven?
When Nicodemus asked Jesus this, Jesus told him he must be
"born again." Not that he had to go back into his Mom's
tummy, but that he could ask the Holy Spirit to give him a new life from
heaven.
And the way we do this is to put our faith in Jesus and believe in Him.
Jesus said, "everyone who believes in me will have eternal life"
(John 3:15).
There's a story in the Bible about Moses and all the
people that he took with him on a trip through the desert. Snakes
started biting the people and the people would die.
God told Moses to create a snake out of bronze (sort of
like gold) and put it up on a pole. Then if anyone got bitten by a
snake, they should look up to the bronze snake on the pole and when they
did, they would be healed. And that's just what
happened.
So Jesus reminded Nicodemus about this story and said
the same thing would happen for people who wanted to be saved from death
on this planet. Jesus said he would be lifted up (and he was, on
the cross), and when people look to Him and put their faith in Him, they
would be saved, too, and get eternal life.
This is exactly how we can be born again and live
forever in heaven with God. Put our faith in Jesus, believe in
Him, trust Him that He died for our sins so that we could be set free
from death and have eternal life.
Do you want to be saved? Do you want to go to
heaven? Put your faith in Jesus.
One of Jesus followers, Paul, also told us in the Bible
how to be saved:
That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
(Romans 10:9, NIV)
When we say "Jesus is Lord" that means that we
want Him to be our Lord, to be in control of our lives, like a master
has control of a servant. Sometimes we do the wrong thing, instead
of what God wants us to do. That's when we get into trouble.
And that's why Jesus had to die on the cross - to pay the penalty for
all the wrong things we've done.
So when we put our faith in Him, we're saying that we
believe He died for the things we've done wrong, our sins, and that from
now on we want to do the right things - whatever He wants us to do.
If you want to be saved, to be born again, to live with
God forever in heaven, then say this out loud,
"Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised
Jesus from the dead. And the Bible says that you will be saved!
If you'd like to say that right now with me in a prayer
to God, you can. God is looking at your heart more than the exact
words, but here are some words that you might tell Him to express what
YOU feel right now in YOUR heart. You can pray them with me if you
want:
"Dear God, I want to be with you in heaven
forever. I want to be born again and have a new life. I
want to put my faith in Jesus. I want Jesus to be my Lord and
I'll say it out loud: 'JESUS IS LORD!' and I believe in my heart that you raised him from the
dead. Please send your Holy Spirit to me to give me a new
life. In Jesus' name, Amen."
God, I'm truly sorry for anything that I've done wrong in my life,
and I'm sorry that Jesus had to die on the cross for the wrong things
I've done, but I want to live differently from now on. I want to
put my faith in Jesus and trust Him with everything I do from now on. Please forgive me, and please let me be with you in heaven
forever. In Jesus' name, Amen."
If you prayed that prayer with me just now, I'm so happy
for you!! It's really the most exciting prayer in the world,
because it can give you a whole new life, here on earth, and an eternal
life with God. If you just prayed that prayer, I hope you'll let
me know when you get to the bottom of the page.
If you're not sure you're ready to pray that prayer, I
hope you'll read some more stories about Jesus, about how He died on the
cross for our sins, about how much He loves you, and about how He'll come
again one day. Then I hope you'll come back here and pray so you
can know that you'll be with God forever.
P.S. Have you ever seen an
ambulance? Did you ever notice that they sometimes have a picture
on it that looks like a snake wrapped around a pole or a
cross?
That's the symbol of healing from the
story of Moses in the desert - when people looked to the bronze snake,
God healed them. And it's the same story Jesus used when He said
if we look to Him and put our faith in Him, we'll be saved and live
forever!
You know, some people think there are many
ways to get to God and you don't have to believe in Jesus to go to
heaven. But
Jesus himself said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
(John 14:6, NIV)
If you think Jesus is a good teacher and
did great miracles, then it's worth considering carefully everything he
said, including His statement that He is the only way to get to the
Father, God.
One of Jesus' closest disciples, Peter,
said:
"Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
(Acts 4:12, NIV)
Some people wonder why Christians think
that believing in Jesus is the only way to heaven. I'd like to
think that there are other ways so that no one would perish (die and go
to hell). But Jesus said there was no other way to God except to
believe in Christ. God wants us to share this good news with
others. I hope you will tell others about Jesus so they can go to
heaven, too.
If you prayed with me up above and put your faith in
Jesus for the first time today so you can go to heaven, I hope you'll click
here to send me a note!!
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