Ron:
Would you say, when you open up to initial salvation, you walk into a whole new life, a whole new realm in life, and you have Really, you have no clue at all what you've just walked into and what you've just opened up to.
And to me, that's why I don't like all the church stuff. I don't like everyone telling you, now this is what you should believe and here's some and here's this and here's that. Because Already you're starting to put parameters and limitations and all this stuff. When you're a child, you haven't lived long enough to have a lot of stuff dumped on you, hopefully.
So you're just living life and life's exciting. Every day you wake up, it's a whole new day and you're excited about living that day. And you have no clue what's going to happen to you that day. You're just walking through the day. Salvation, the beginning of salvation was just an open door to walk with God in the spirit. There's an excitement because we have already entered into eternity.
Debbie:
Before time began, we were chosen. God predestined us. He chose us. What matters is that we have been saved, that we have salvation. That we have a belief in Christ's death, and his blood was my, was the sacrifice made for me. That enabled me to come into a relationship with my father. Christ was God's provision for me.
Come into an understanding of who He is. And who He was created to be, and how He created me to walk with Him, and to love Him, and to be one with Him, and how He was raised so that I can live too.
Lois:
I had no Christian teaching in my home, nobody taught me about God, but yet I was driven to walk in my little town.
Down by the, to the Methodist Church, and cry at their altars. To the Baptist Church, I'd go cry at their altars. I'm just a little girl. Something's driving me.
Ken:
And I think that's really true of all of us, that have this call of God on our lives. There is a drawing, there is something missing that we recognize.
We're not gratified with all the things that we have, or that we're reaching, you get something and you want something more. There's no end to it. Because what you're really reaching for, what you're really looking for, is what God planned for your life. What He planned for each one of us to come into.
Debbie:
God's will is that none should perish. Doesn't it say that in the scriptures? And His will for you is that, that you will not perish. But you have to come into His plan.
Ken:
Jesus said, I came into the world not to judge the world. I came into the world to save the world. The world has a picture of God in their mind about this old man with a long beard, who's an ogre and just wants to destroy everything around you. Just making it rough for you to even exist. And that's the opposite of who God is.
Debbie:
Or make it so impossible that you can't walk in it.
Ken:
He's just so full of love, and grace, and compassion, and you find that all through His Word. Every bit of it's in His Word. Being born again into this relationship, which is what we have done, I don't think we ever stopped growing and coming in to salvation. We're saved, but we're always being drawn into a greater relationship in salvation. I know it's hard for unbelievers out there to understand who God is because they see all the stuff that's going on and they want to blame God for it if they do believe in God at all, or they make excuses or whatever.
But when you come into a revelation of who the Lord is. And who He is in the other people that you function with. All at once you go, wow. Beyond anything I can imagine.
Debbie:
A lot of people have grown up without any teaching, without any background. How do they come into a walk with God? There's something in them that's not satisfied. Many people are like that. But if they open up, the Lord will lead them. . If they cry out to know, they want to know the truth. I don't know, but there's gotta be more.
Ron:
What's the right time for people? What's the right time to come to Christ? There is a right time, and that right time is when their heart's prepared. It's not the circumstances as much as it is when their hearts are open and prepared to receive something from God, it's the right time. That's the beginning of salvation for that person. That's a real good place to start salvation. So if you're listening to the podcast, look at your heart.
Debbie:
A lot of times it's when you're broken, when you're at the end and you can't do anything and you have no answers. And that's when, you cry out, God, if you're there, if you exist, Lord, God, help me, enable me, show me you've been prepared. You've been brought out of yourself where the Lord can meet you.
And the Lord starts there and says, I love you. I love you. Someone will come along the way and speak something to you that just opens you up to the presence of the Lord and the salvation of the Lord, ministers the salvation of the Lord to you. While you were yet a sinner, Christ died for you.
