Day 3: The Joy of Your Salvation

One of the biggest indicators that we have become The Carnal Christian is that we become critical. We become cold and cynical and always have a complaint.

Can you relate to feeling like this? If so, you are not the first or the last believer to feel this way.

When you settle into the lifestyle of The Carnal Christian, you exchange the joy of your salvation for the criticisms of being a professional Christian.

The good news is that you can repent and God is willing to quickly forgive you of this way of living.

David had to pray a prayer of repentance to God when He found himself living and behaving in a way that was contrary to the heart of God. His prayer can be found in Psalm 51 and can be used to guide your own conversation with God.

Do you remember what it was like when you first encountered Christ? Do you remember your joy and passion to learn more about Him and to honor Him with your life? You had the joy of your salvation!

I remember, once I preached a sermon about God as a father.

I asked, “If you want to receive God as your Heavenly Father, raise your hand.” Around the room, hands began to rise into the air, but my attention was captured by a beautiful, brown man, high in the balcony, who was waving his hands at me like he was trying to land an airplane.

I led everyone through the prayer of salvation and afterward I was able to meet the man.

He said, “Hey! It is so nice to meet you, Pastor, my name is Ayush.”

I said, “Ayush, where are you from?”

He shared that his family was from India and that he came from a long lineage of Hindus.

He definitely messed that up for them that day!

I asked Ayush what happened during the salvation call to make him wave his arms and respond the way that he did.

He began to share how his father recently passed away and how it was Hindu custom to watch their loved ones burn with fire as part of their grieving process.

He said, “As I watched my father, I kept thinking to myself that I would never have a father again, but as I listened to you teach about having a father in God, you spoke directly to what I have been feeling. This is when I knew that I needed Jesus!”

Weeks later, I baptized him and it was amazing to witness his raw response to Jesus. He didn’t know the “correct way” to respond and he wasn’t bound by how church folk act. His response was pure.

I put him under that water and when he came up, he shot up 8 feet like Free Willy out of that water and he screamed, “Woo! This is amazing! This is the best feeling of my life!”

This was the joy of his salvation!

I declare that God is restoring the joy of your salvation! As you read this, I pray that God would become near and tangible to you again. I pray that as you pray and repent, bondage and shackles of religion would fall off of you and that the Spirit of God would have unhindered access to the throne of your heart! The life of a carnal Christian will no longer be comfortable to you, but you will burn with a holy fire for God like never before!