What happened to me when I asked Jesus to be my personal savior is often called salvation. Salvation does not require that you be baptized, know special creeds, or eat certain foods. It only requires faith. This explains Salvation:
Romans 3:23 NIV "For ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" This verse basically states that we have all sinned. This is one of the first things that is important to know for you to understand salvation. Not one of us, even the "best" people are sin-free. Because none of us is Sinless, none of us come close to the glory of God. You see, when Adam and Eve first sinned, a gap was created between man and God. Man has, ever since, attempted to cross this gap, but has failed because we have lacked the perfection needed to succeed. There was only one person who was ever able to claim perfection and thus cross the gap for us.
Romans 6:23 NIV "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." This verse introduces us to what we get for being sinners. A wage is something you typically earn. We earn death, eternal death, by sinning. A gift is something that is freely given to us what we didn't deserve. We did not deserve eternal live, we earned death, but God gave us eternal life as a free gift (most gifts are free aren't they?) through his son Jesus. Remember that one person who was blameless enough to cross the gap between us and God? That person is Jesus Christ.
John 3:16 NIV "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." This verse continues to talk about that perfect person, Jesus. Jesus was given to this world by a loving God. Because Jesus was the Son of God or part of the trinity that includes the Holy Spirit, he was able to pay the price for ALL or our sins. We do not need to fear certain death eternally any longer because God LOVED us so much that he sent Jesus to earth so that we could have eternal life. Our eventual death sentence was paid by this perfect man on a cross.
1 Corinthians 15:3b, 4 NIV "Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures." This verse verifies the fact that Jesus did in fact die on the cross, was buried, and was raised on the third day after his death. When Jesus was on that cross he was paying the price for the sins of the world, and thus bridging the gap between sinful man and God IF WE ACCEPT HIM. By rising on the third day, not only did he fulfill Old Testament prophecy, but also he conquered death for us all so that we do not need to fear eternal death IF WE ACCEPT JESUS CHRIST AS OUR LORD AND SAVIOR.
How do you do that? All you have to do is pray a simple prayer. You don't need to be the most eloquent person in the whole world or say the longest prayer ever. That doesn't really matter to God, what matters is in your heart so pray from your heart. The following is an example taken from the booklet "The Four Spiritual Laws":
Lord Jesus, I need you. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive you as my Savior and Lord. Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person you want me to be.
If you have just accepted Jesus into your life I challenge you to tell someone. If you don't know anyone you would be willing to tell, e-mail me at person5@bellsouth.net In fact, e-mail me anyway so that I can pray for you. I would like to leave you with one final verse.
Hebrews 13:5 NIV "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.'"