A Simple Plan

How To Know You Are Born Again

A Sinner’s Prayer

The first and only effective prayer anyone who doesn’t know God can make is often called the “sinner’s” prayer, which is actually An Invitation To Christ. You should talk to God. Talk to Him just like you’d talk to me. You don’t have to speak in the King James and you don’t need to know a lot of fancy words. It is helpful to get down on your knees. This isn’t for God but for us as it humbles is. Kneeling is something many of us are simply too proud to do. Humbling ourselves physically often puts us in the right emotional and mental state to speak to God with humility and grace.

If you've never prayed the Sinner's Prayer, or something like it, it's possible you've never formally invited Christ into your life. If you've never invited Him in, He's still waiting for that invitation. Your many years of service on the usher board or the van ministry are certainly appreciated, but works alone, church membership alone, will not get you to heaven.

If you've never prayed a prayer like this, or if you can't remember or aren't sure, you should take this time, this moment, to invite Jesus into your life. Use your own words, but a sinner’s prayer might be something like this:

Lord Jesus,
I’ve done a lot of wrong things in my life. Things I’m not proud of. Things I wish I could change. I’m sorry for those things I’ve done, and for those things I am now doing. Lord, I don’t want to live this way anymore.

I believe that You died for me. I believe that You rose again, according to the scriptures, and that You live today. I believe You want to be my friend. I want to be Yours.

You are welcome in my life. In my heart. In my choices. In my values. Please breathe on me and breath through me. Change me as only You can. Lord, I will let You lead the way. I will follow You and I will trust you.

I believe that, through You, I can have a new life. A better life. I’m tired of trying to make things better on my own. I want You to lead the way.

Thank You, Lord, for answering this prayer. For coming into my heart and my life. Please let your Holy Spirit lead me, guide and protect me as I spend the rest of my life, from this day forward, serving only You.

I count this done in the name of Jesus Christ,

Amen.

What’s Next?

There’s got to be follow-up. We are shamefully weak here, as well. New believers, new in the Word, are like lambs. They are, largely, defenseless against their old habits and old ways. Against demonic attack. Many if not most black churches here have absolutely no follow-up programs. These folks are simply cut loose and many, if not most, either fall back into sin or never escape sin in the first place.

Be Baptized

After dark one evening, a Jewish religious leader named Nicodemus, a Pharisee, came to speak with Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are proof enough that God is with you.” Jesus replied, “I assure you, unless you are born again, you can never see the Kingdom of God.” "What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother's womb and be born again?” Jesus replied, “The truth is, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven. —John 3:1-6 [NLT]

This is more ceremonial than anything else, but God wants us to do this. He wants us to publicly proclaim our new life, our new relationship with Him. Whether you are baptized in the name of The Father, The Son and the Holy Ghost (or Spirit), or baptized in the name of Jesus, is a matter for church folk to argue over. Just get baptized. Like a wedding, it is a public acknowledgement of your turn in the road. It changes your thinking and the way others see you, as you leave the Old Man or the Old Woman beneath the water, dead to this world, and rise above the water as a new person in Christ Jesus.

Move Forward

Get a Bible. Get a good one. I recommend the Zondervan NIV Student Bible. It’s a collegiate Bible, good for high school and college students, so it’s not a “kid’s” bible but an extremely well-edited learning tool for new converts. Check out our Introduction To The Bible sidebar below. Start in the Book of Mark—the shortest of the four Gospels—and get acquainted with who Jesus is. Whatever you do, don't try reading the Bible from Genesis through Revelation right off the bat. Trust me, you’ll get bored somewhere in Deuteronomy and you’ll end up putting the thing down.

Get a Prayer Partner. Somebody you trust. Somebody who’s not a busybody or a big mouth. Someone who will check on you and make sure you’re okay. Someone you can share your struggle with.

Don’t Skip Prayer Meeting. Prayer meeting is, typically, the least attended function of the black church. If there’s no choir singing, no preacher hooping, we’re exponentially less likely to set foot in there. But the prayer meeting is your power station. The prayer meeting is like a good workout at a health club. It helps get you focused and keep you focused. It brings you nearer and closer to God.

Bible Study is simply essential for you, for all of us. Find a good one if not several good ones and attend regularly. The more your learn about this great book, the stronger you will be.

Find A Support Group or groups for new Christians. People who can answer questions and pray with you—without judging you or your lifestyle or your choices. People who can be there for you during the exciting times and difficult challenges a new Christian faces.
Finally, Find A Good Church Home. You will note I place this last among my recommendations. Not that it’s not important—it really is important to belong to a church family—but that, in our tradition, church membership is the only thing we strongly advocate, when we should be strongly advocating Jesus.

When you find a church home, go slow. People will try and drag you into all manner of activities and recruit you to all manner of auxiliaries. A new Christian needs time and space to grow. A new Christian should not be standing on the door ushering the very next week or leading songs in the choir right away. A new Christian need support and patience and time. Church folk need to not turn up their nose at a new Christian who still smokes or parties, who’s still shacked up, who still has habits that need changing. Stop wagging a finger and let God do His job [John 16:13].

You, the new convert, should go slow and with great caution at your new church home. Like a new convict in a prison, you need time to figure out who’s your friend and who’s not. There are a great many emotional and spiritual cripples in churches. A great many people laying in wait to trip you up out of jealousy or resentment.

Ladies: there’s an enormous problem with men—even men in leadership, like deacons and pastors—looking to get you into bed. You’re new to the Word, you don’t know a whole lot, and they circle you like sharks. Dating should be the very last thing on your mind. In fact, dating within our churches is a bad idea for all of us. The church is not a night club. Worship service is not a Love Connection. And, for every happy ending of a couple meeting and marrying at church, there are at least a dozen train wrecks; people whose ability to worship is now hampered because they’ve seen that person ministering in the pulpit naked in the shower. Resentment over hurt feelings often breeds division and out-and-out warfare within the church. Even so, few, if any, black pastors warn against dating within your own church. It would be much wiser and much safer to seek companionship with someone from another church.

And, there you are: on the road to a new life and new experiences like one you’ve ever known. Learn to love and trust God, and you’ll find a life more full and rewarding than you’ve ever known. This is the most important thing you can ever do with your life.

And this is the most important message the black church—or any church—can give. It’s a criminal shame that so few of our churches ever give it.

Christopher J. Priest
13 February 2004
editor@praisenet.org
TOP OF PAGE

Next: An Introduction To The Bible

What Does It Mean?

---

Question:
"What does it mean to be a born again Christian?"

Answer:
What does it mean to be a born again Christian? The classic passage from the Bible that answers this question is John 3:1-21. The Lord Jesus Christ is talking to Nicodemus, a prominent Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin (a ruler of the Jews). Nicodemus had come to Jesus at night. Nicodemus had questions to ask Jesus.

As Jesus talked with Nicodemus, He said, “’I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.’ ‘How can a man be born when he is old?’ Nicodemus asked. ‘Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again’” (John 3:3-7).

The phrase "born again" literally means "born from above." Nicodemus had a real need. He needed a change of his heart—a spiritual transformation. New birth, being born again, is an act of God whereby eternal life is imparted to the person who believes (2 Corinthians 5:17; Titus 3:5; 1 Peter 1:3; 1 John 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1-4, 18). John 1:12,13 indicates that "born again" also carries the idea "to become children of God" through trust in the name of Jesus Christ.

The question logically comes, "Why does a person need to be born again?" The Apostle Paul in Ephesians 2:1 says, "And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins..." (NKJV). To the Romans in Romans 3:23, the Apostle wrote, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." So, a person needs to be born again in order to have their sins forgiven and have a relationship with God.

How does that come to be? Ephesians 2:8-9 states, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast." When one is "saved," he/she has been born again, spiritually renewed, and is now a child of God by right of new birth. Trusting in Jesus Christ, the One who paid the penalty of sin when He died on the cross, is what it means to be "born again" spiritually. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Corinthians 5:17).

If you have never trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, will you consider the prompting of the Holy Spirit as He speaks to your heart? You need to be born again. Will you pray the prayer of repentance and become a new creation in Christ today? "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God" (John 1:12-13).

If you want to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and be born again, here is a sample prayer. Remember, saying this prayer or any other prayer will not save you. It is only trusting in Christ that can save you from sin. This prayer is simply a way to express to God your faith in Him and thank Him for providing for your salvation. "God, I know that I have sinned against you and am deserving of punishment. But Jesus Christ took the punishment that I deserve so that through faith in Him I could be forgiven. I place my trust in You for salvation. Thank You for Your wonderful grace and forgiveness—the gift of eternal life! Amen!"

Except As Noted, Text Copyright © 2001-2013
PraiseNet eMedia. All Rights Reserved.