Why I CHOSE to be a Christian?

Recently I was asked, 'I just find myself saying, 'Well what about this religion? What about that religion?' and believing in happenstance or luck doesn't really do it for me either. So if you wouldn't mind, could you share with me your own experience a little more? I think it might help me understand what I'm lacking.' This question was asked of me by one of the Forum members. It might take me a few tries to convey why I believe and what I believe. To begin with I am not a member of any denomination. I just consider myself a follower of Jesus Christ. A Christian. It has taken me many years to reach this point. I am 62 years old and began my journey of discovery seeking the truth around the time I was 13 years old. I explored many different teachings. I read the whole bible, and found it to be very interesting, and felt like the stories told within its covers were true. Yet, I was not ready to become a Christian. I still had questions for which I needed answers. The evidence is over whelming. If I believe the bible is the true word of God, which I do, then there is no question. Jesus was born of the virgin Mary, Lived a perfect sinless life, died, shed His blood to cover our sins, and rose from the dead, so that we might have a way prepared for us to enter into the presence of God the Father, by His atoning blood and sacrifice. The word of God says in James 1:5 'If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.' I asked for God to guide me to the truth. I sought to draw closer to God and to His son Jesus. I was blessed with the answer to my prayers. Not by some angel appearing to me, or a dream, vision, or any such thing. It was by faith, and reading the Bible, that I received my answer. Ephesians 2:8 'For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:' Romans 12:3 'For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.' Every man, every woman, is given a measure of faith. It is up to you what you do with that measure of faith. You can chose to believe, or chose to not believe. It is your choice. No one will force you to believe, or not believe. You have the free will to CHOSE. What is your choice? What will you do with Jesus? Revelation 3:20 'Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.' What is your choice? Do you open the door to your heart and let Him come in? Or do you CHOSE to leave the door closed? On March 23, 1972 at 7:10 P.M. I made a choice, to believe that the Bible is indeed the word of God. To believe that it is the truth. To also believe that Jesus Christ died for my sins. I invited Jesus to come into my heart and life and change me into whatever He wanted me to be. Yielding control of your life for Him to change it is the beginning. I do not for one minute regret having made that step of Faith. It is very difficult in one section of this Blog to share all that helped me make this choice. Just know this, God will provide a way for you to come to Him, if you just take the first step in His direction and pray. Each and every day that I have lived since that time, I have grown in faith. My faith is now settled in the word of God and His son Jesus Christ. Just talk to God the Father and share what is on your heart. That is all prayer is, opening up your heart and mind to God. If you are mad, upset, whatever, tell Him about it. He understands, and will begin to work with you right where you are at this very moment. You may think you have no faith, that is a lie. Read the word above where it says to every one was given a measure of faith. It is up to you to begin to work now to grow that faith. We walk by faith not by sight. Please, heavenly Father, help those who read this to find their place in you and the family of God. Bless them for seeking the truth and open their eyes. As they pray increase their faith and come into their lives and make them new, born again, by the Holy Spirit of God. We know you are faithful, and give to you all glory honor and praise for this work. Amen Acts 16:30 'And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' Acts 16:31 'And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.' Jesus was alive, shed His blood on the cross for your sins, and rose from the dead. He now sits at the right hand of God making intersession for us. His work is finished. We can now all have access to the throne of God and to heaven by His shed blood for our sins. Praise God. May God multiply the seed sown and make the word come alive in your hearts and minds. God Bless AL Marble Here is a brief quote: 'Satan's purpose has always been to obscure, and falsify the simplicity of the cross in its application to our sin problem.

• The Son of the Eternal Father's substitutional death on the cross stands at the heart of all other salvation truths revealed in the Bible. Jesus willingly took our place in suffering the penalty for sin. The demands of the Law against the transgressor were fully satisfied by His voluntary acceptance of our punishment that holy day in Jerusalem, when hanging on the cross He said; 'it is finished'.

• It was the Savior's incarnate entrance into the human family which laid the foundation for the entire redemptive process. According to the Scriptures, He had to be born of a virgin in Bethlehem, live a sinless life, ride into Jerusalem on a foal of a donkey precisely on April 6, 32 A.D., exactly 173,880 days*, after the command to rebuild Jerusalem by the Babylonian king Artaxerxes.

• The Jewish Messiah also had to suffer and lay down His life for our sins. This is clearly shown in Isaiah 53. He did this for both Jews and Gentiles.

• There were over 360 prophecies foretold about the coming Jewish Messiah - hundreds of years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Jesus fulfilled all 365 of these prophecies. Of these 360+ prophecies, there are 109 that only Jesus (Yeshua) could have fulfilled.

• His name in Greek is Jesus, and His Hebrew name is Yehoshua. In Aramaic it's: 'Yeshua'.

* If only the First Century Jerusalem Jews had studied their own Scripture, and recognized the 'day of their visitation' of their own Messiah, history may have been very different. Writing in about 607 BC, the Prophet Daniel prophesied the exact date the Messiah (Jesus) would ride into Jerusalem on a colt. Who else claiming to be the Messiah, and doing many wondrous miracles rode into Jerusalem on the foal of a donkey on Palm Sunday, April 6, 32 A.D.?

Jesus of Nazareth did indeed live, die, and rose from the grave.

After that His followers, the Christians, changed the face of history across the world. How did one man cause such a difference, if He were not the Son of God? Those thoughts made me thirst for more information about this man Jesus. I studied the old testament in depth focusing on the prophecies about the Messiah. I found there were many prophecies, at least 365 that I know of that were fulfilled by Jesus. I came to only one conclusion, Jesus had to be who they said he was, The Son of the Living God.