God’s Plan: The Road to God’s Forgiveness and Salvation, and the Gift of Heaven

Hi friend! Thanks for taking the time to read this. I have written this because I don’t want to take for granted that all my readers understand how Heaven becomes their future home and is a gift from God that you cannot personally earn. I frequently talk with people who are trying to earn their way to Heaven through some personal effort of worthiness. Although God wants us to live Christ-like, living a good and godly life, that’s not the answer to How do I get to Heaven? Heaven is a gift of His grace (receiving His love though we don’t deserve it.) Hopefully, if you read this and look through the scripture verses in your own Bible, it will paint the picture of what Jesus did for you so that you could receive Heaven as a gift from Him—not something you earned by being good enough!

The Road to God’s Forgiveness and Salvation and the Gift of Heaven

If you should die today, are you 100% sure beyond the shadow of a doubt that you would go to heaven? Most people have doubts because they know they’ve fallen short in some areas of their life.

If you were to die today and stand before God, and He asked you why He should let you into Heaven, what would you say?

If your answer is, I’m hoping I can enter into Heaven because I have tried to be a good person, it’s the wrong answer so please read on.

Salvation or the gift of eternal life cannot be earned. To have earned it, you would have had to live your life without ever sinning—something that no person except Jesus Christ the Son of God has ever done. This gift of the forgiveness of our sins and the gift of eternal life called salvation is just that—a gift! It can’t be earned. Like any gift, it’s free and only has to be received. You don’t pay for the birthday or Christmas gifts given to you each year, do you? No, of course not! Someone paid for them and gave them to you as a gift. And concerning the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life in Heaven with God, these are something Jesus paid the price for—these gifts for you through His death on the cross. You cannot earn them.

The following verses help you see these glorious and eternal promises and truths unfold.

We can know – not hope – that we have eternal life!
1 John 5:13 “I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.”

No one has been able to live a sinless life
Romans 3:10 “As the Scriptures say, “No one is good—no one in all the world is innocent.”
Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Come short of earning their way into Heaven.)

Sin has touched every human being’s life.
Romans 5:12 “When Adam sinned, sin entered the entire human race. His sin spread death throughout all the world so everything began to grow old and die, for all sinned. ”

We deserve punishment for our sins but Jesus offers us the free gift of eternal life.
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

God isn’t waiting for us to get cleaned up first. He’ll help us with that. He accepts us while we are still sinners so there is no sense in putting it off!
Romans 5:8 “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”

Faith in Jesus Christ, and the receiving of the gift of salvation, is initiated by asking God to forgive us for all of our sins, feeling sincere repentance, and by believing in our hearts, and publicly acknowledging that we believe Jesus died to save us and cleanse us from all our sins. And then asking Him to be our Lord and Savior.
Romans 10:9-10 “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.”

If we say we haven’t sinned, we have lied to ourselves. When we admit that we have, God is faithful to continually cleanse us.
1 John 1:8-10 “If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.”

Jesus is waiting for you to surrender your life to Him right now! Don’t put it off for a second. Pray and ask Him to be your Savior now!
Revelation 3:20 “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”

If you would like to ask Jesus into your heart now, simply pray this prayer to God and mean if from your heart. A miracle will happen as you pray. You will be forgiven and brought into the family of God and you can know that Heaven will be your future home!

Pray this Prayer:
Heavenly Father, I do believe that Jesus is your Son. I believe that He came to earth to die for my sins. That He rose again from the dead. Please forgive me of all my sins. Please wash them all away. Please come and live in my heart. Please teach me your ways. Please help me to learn and understand your Word. Please give me Christian friends that love you and can help me grow in the knowledge of you through your Word. Please help me find a church that will teach me the Bible, and help me grow in knowing you. I thank you now in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Now go tell someone you know who is a Christian, that you prayed this prayer. Also, pray and ask God to show you a good Bible-teaching church to go to! He knows how to lead you and you’ll see Him do it!

I pray you’ll continue to read Fresh Manna and learn of God’s love toward you! I’ll be praying for you!

In His Love,
Pastor Tim Burt