Nothing wrong with having lots of money, I could use more myself, but if I depend on Him as my source I will be an OVERCOMER and finish the race, the signs of His coming is all around us, just a little bit longer.
But when we are self-sufficient, we are not in humility, and not desperate, but when we are weak then His Spirit is strong, if you lost everything, paralyzed in bed, your mate dies, that will do it. If you search for Him with all your heart, you will find Him, and anyone that calls on the name of the Lord will be SAVED.
My Story.
One day while listening to a sermon in church, the Holy Spirit tugged at my heart. I knew it was useless to look for the answer from men. I realized their helplessness and sometimes their lack of understanding. Matthew 19:26 says "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." In response to the altar call, I got up and there I surrendered fully to my Lord and Savior.... Confessing my sins and promising repentance, I invited Jesus into my life and my heart.
Every time I think of how the Lord rescued me out of my hopeless state of depression, I praise Him with every fiber of my being. He heard my cry and did more than help as I sought shelter in His holiness. He came to my rescue in His way and in His time so that there would be a permanent change in me and that my soul would be saved. Yes, He was giving me a testimony, taking away Satan's hands that blinded my eyes so that I would have a glimpse of His wonderful kingdom. Now I know the meaning of the Proverb, "The fear (respect, acknowledgement) of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."
Romans 10:9: If you declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
1John 5:1: Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born from God, and everyone who loves the parent also loves the child.
My desire for salvation was so great that I also answered the following five altar calls. I felt that eyes were upon me from within the fellowship of such a large, conservative church. Somehow, that made my response to all these altar calls seem even more meaningful and I knew that God was smiling.
Because this experience was so meaningful, I realized that my water baptism several years earlier had been a ceremonial event and was not done with one hundred percent of my heart, body, and Soul. My relationship with Jesus Christ began with a commitment of mind, soul and every atom of my body speaking in unity to make Him my Lord. He was my Head without question.
Although I was still deeply depressed, I felt a burden lift from my shoulders and in my heart there was an appetite for praising God and enjoying Christian music. During that period I did not listen to any other type of music but constantly played gospel music.
II Corinthians 12:9-10: But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions in difficulties for when I am weak, then I am strong.
The Gospel is short form...
God created man for fellowship, He breathed into him and he became a living ETERNAL SOUL. God gave man free will, with only one commandment, "Do not eat of the fruit that is in the middle of the Garden" They did and therefore sinned, and his sin has affected the entire race of mankind. God was alarmed that that happened, because he created "The lake of Fire" for Satan and his angels.
Man fell out of the relationship He had with man, so the only way that a Holy God could redeem man was to come in the Flesh, all man and all God, and to be crucified shed His atoning blood and then to rise from the grave by the power of the Godhead the Holy Spirit.
How does a person know whether or not he has truly been born again?
In most cases the person has to be desperate to be SAVED, call it a road to Damascus experience (Paul) (Losing everything, Depression, Fear of damnation, and the like) you will know by the transformation, vises stop, sadness turns to joy, a hunger for the Word and the things of God.
Should the transformation not occur immediately, a seed has been planted, at least you did not deny Him. God will intervene and will reveal Himself in someone, a dream, or the next time you are in trouble, and desperately run to Him, He will be waiting for you, maybe a scripture may quicken you spirit, it's a living Word you know.
if you want to receive Jesus, go to your pastor and tell him that you want the be Born Again, if not email me and I will call you free of charge and answer any questions you may have and lead you into the sinners pray.