Responding to God

If you've read the first three topics, you've understood:

• You and God were meant for each other
• But before God and mankind can live together forever, someone had to solve the the problem
• God solved the problem

However, just knowing these things is great, but it doesn't get you in on the deal yet!

Don't worry! You can, and the following explains how. The bottom line is that you simply have to respond to God. How? The New Testament describes the following ways to respond:

• receive Christ, as you would receive a friend into your home
• believe (trust) in Christ
• confess (some content, explained below) and believe (trust) in Christ
• call on the Lord as you would call someone on the phone or vocally get someone's attention
• open the door to Christ the same way you would open the door to your house to a friend
• receive a gift

Notice that these are all relationship-oriented responses. For more information see Formula vs. Relationship.

Detail About Responses

For the Biblical basis regarding these responses, see the table below. It lists the response, at least one New Testament verse where it is mentioned, and a short comment.

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Response	Verse	Reference	Comment
Receive	But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.	John 1:12	This verse describes receiving Christ as if you were receiving someone into your home. You are inviting the person in. This requires openness and acceptance.
	So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.	Colossians 2:6,7	This verse describes how to live after receiving Christ.
Believe	...he (the jailer) said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?". Paul and Silas replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved"	Acts 16:30-31	This verse indicates that you can simply "believe in the Lord Jesus".
Confess and Believe	But what does it say? "THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART" — that is the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.	Romans 10. 8-10	This verse cites both 1) confessing (with your mouth) and 2) believing (in your heart). Breakdown: 1) The origin of the word "confess" is homo-logeo, or "same"-"word" or "same-say". In other words, "to say the same thing as", to agree to something. What are we agreeing with? That "Jesus is Lord." What does this mean? Based on the rest of the New Testament, that Jesus is Deity. 2) Believing what? That God raised Him (Jesus) from the dead. This verse breaks the response into 1) agreeing to some content, and 2) believing some content.
Call	For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for "WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED."	Romans 10:12-14	This is an extension of the previous verses mentioned above. It includes the idea of calling on Him because you heard (the message of the preacher) and believed.
Open the Door	Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.	Revelation 3:20	This verse occurs in the context of Jesus speaking to a first-century church. The expected response is to open the door (figuratively). Jesus returns the response with two actions: 1) "I will come in to him". In this context, it means that Christ will come in to the church (possibly literally and figuratively), and 2) "and will dine with him" - a universal metaphor for sharing a meal and enjoying a conversation. The idea of "coming in to him" also aligns with the idea of Christ literally coming into your being (body, soul, and spirit). See "Christ in you".
Receive a Gift	For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.	Ephesians 2:8,9	This key verse emphasizes that salvation is a free gift, not accomplished by the works of mankind. Remember "saved" is one of those Biblical words discussed in Synonyms for Becoming a Christian.

I hope that you consider one or all of these responses to God. If you did, you probably have many questions. That is normal. The following topics might help.

Related Topics

• Formula vs. Relationship
• Intellectual Assent
• Breakdown of Response
• Definition of a Believer
• Synonyms for Becoming a Believer
• Ways to Waste Your Time Trying to Become a Believer