24. WHEN SHOULD WE OPEN?

You might ask when we should open the door. It is written: "For he says, 'In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.' I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation." (2 Cor 6:2) God's time is always now. At this very moment, He is standing at the door of your heart, knocking. If you open your heart now, He will come in.
Once, when I was making house calls, a family in my church wanted to know whether one could be certain of one's salvation. I referred to Biblical statements such as Isaiah 44:5; Romans 8:16,17; 2 Corinthians 5:1; 1 John 3:14 and 5:9-13, from which it is abundantly clear that a child of God can and should be absolutely sure of his or her salvation. At their request, I explained to them the way of salvation so that they knew what was expected of them. At this stage, I asked an elder to conclude our visit with prayer. He, however, objected to this arrangement and said that I could not conclude the conversation like that. He explained that if I had been in the insurance business, I would have died of hunger. He continued and explained that one never explains the advantages of a certain policy to someone, persuade that person to take out that policy, and then leave without making sure that the person had signed the policy. "Doctor, you have convinced these people of the necessity of a policy that will ensure their heavenly home for them, and now you want to leave before they have accepted the policy!" The people agreed with my elder. It reminded me of my previous experience with the van der Berg's. I learnt something from my elder that I shall never again forget. Our hosts then accepted the Lord Jesus as their Saviour as I have taught them to do. They actually prayed aloud together, as I preceded them in prayer.
Now I want to ask you who have read this message, won't you, at this very moment, do what many others have already done? Won't you commit yourself to the Lord in prayer now, accept His promises and accept Christ Jesus as your Saviour? I want to ask you kindly, no, I want to implore you to do it now. (Cp. 2 Cor 5:20)
I accept that you who have read this message, have probably accepted the Lord Jesus as your Saviour previously, but won't you dedicate yourselves once again to the Lord? I know that the prayer that I am going to ask you to pray, is not really appropriate for someone who has already accepted the Lord as his Saviour. It is actually a prayer for someone who is accepting the Lord Jesus as his Saviour for the first time. Yet I am asking you to pray the prayer as I have written it. For you it means a renewed dedication, for others it means a first dedication. As long as you understand what it means and what you are saying, it will be fine.
Please first read contents of the prayer carefully and decide whether you agree with its contents. Please read it. This is the prayer:

"Lord, I acknowledge that I am a lost sinner. I acknowledge that I am unable to save myself. Only You can save me. Please forgive all my sins and help me to rid myself of them. I open my heart to You. Please come in, Lord Jesus. I accept You as my personal Saviour. I believe that You have died in my place, that You have paid all my debts to God. I accept the reconciliation that You have worked for me through your death and resurrection. Lord, I believe that You have heard my prayer as You have promised to do. Lord, I believe that I am now safely protected by the power of God. Help me to tell others that I have accepted You as my Saviour and help me from now on to live and work in honour of your Name."

Are you satisfied? Are you ready to pray this prayer? Then please read it as a prayer, your own prayer. Read it now. I repeat the prayer:

"Lord, I acknowledge that I am a lost sinner. I acknowledge that I am unable to save myself. Only You can save me. Please forgive all my sins and help me to rid myself of them. I open my heart to You. Please come in, Lord Jesus. I accept You as my personal Saviour. I believe that You have died in my place, that You have paid all my debts to God. I accept the reconciliation that You have worked for me through your death and resurrection. Lord, I believe that You have heard my prayer as You have promised to do. Lord, I believe that I am now safely protected by the power of God. Help me to tell others that I have accepted You as my Saviour and help me from now on to live and work in honour of your Name. Amen."

Thank you that you were willing to pray this prayer. Now you know that you have accepted Him and that He has accepted you. You know it because you have done it and because He has promised to forgive your sins (1 John 1:9) and to give you eternal life. (1 John 5:12)
We must remember that God has chosen us, in Christ, to be holy and blameless in His sight. (Eph 1:4) Therefore, He called us, justified us and glorified us (Rom 8:30) and we may call these riches the glory of our salvation.