Someone once suggested that it would be helpful if there were a simple set of steps a person could take to become a real follower of Jesus.
That is a beautiful thought.
But before we make the list too long, maybe we should begin with the first and most important question:
What is Jesus already doing?
Jesus said:
“And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.”
John 12:32
That means salvation does not begin with us trying to climb our way up to God.
It begins with Jesus drawing us.
He is the One who comes near first.
He is the One who awakens desire.
He is the One who makes the heart hungry for something better.
The Bible also says:
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
James 4:7
So if Jesus is drawing every one of us to Himself, and if we have the freedom to either resist Him or submit to Him, then the one and only step is for us to make a choice.
- Choose not to resist God’s love, and He will draw you to Himself.
That may sound too simple, but it is not small.
To resist means to push back. It means to put on the brakes. It means to try to prevent something from happening.
And when it comes to God, resisting means refusing the love that is already reaching for us.
Submitting to God is the opposite. It means we stop fighting Him. We stop running from Him. We stop trying to keep control of the very things He wants to heal.
We become willing to let God do what is best for us.
And even that willingness is something Jesus helps us with.
Jesus said:
“Apart from me you can do nothing.”
John 15:5
He meant it.
We cannot save ourselves.
We cannot erase our past sins.
We cannot cleanse our own hearts.
We cannot make ourselves holy.
We cannot even create true surrender in ourselves without His help.
But we can ask.
We can say, “Lord, I am not even as willing as I should be. Please make me willing.”
That is grace.
Grace is not God pretending sin does not matter.
Grace is not permission to remain unchanged.
Grace is God reaching into a helpless heart and doing for us what we could never do for ourselves.
Jesus said:
“I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
John 10:10
That is what He wants for you.
Not merely existence.
Not fear-driven religion.
Not a life of pretending.
He wants to give you life—real life, abundant life, a clean heart, a new beginning, and a future filled with His presence.
So it only makes sense to submit to Someone who loves you like that.
Now, please do not misunderstand.
After you give your heart to Jesus, there is much to do for Him.
But you will not be doing those things in order to earn salvation.
Salvation is a gift.
Obedience is not the price we pay to be loved by God. Obedience is what begins to grow in us when we finally believe we already are loved by God.
Jesus saves us freely.
Then, because we love Him, we begin to follow Him.
And whatever He asks you to do, He will also give you the strength to do.
But we must not confuse surrender with laziness.
A person is not submitting to God by sitting still and waiting for the Holy Spirit to force obedience upon him. When Jesus lovingly calls, convicts, prompts, and invites, refusing to respond is not faith. It is resistance. In other words, if in the Bible God asks you to do something then do it without resistance.
So do not resist Him.
A person is not submitting to God by sitting still and waiting for the Holy Spirit to force obedience upon him. When Jesus lovingly calls, convicts, prompts, and invites, refusing to respond is not faith. It is resistance.
When He prompts you to ask for help, do not resist.
When He shows you that you are a sinner, do not resist.
When He invites you to repent, do not resist.
When He calls you to confess, do not resist.
When He begins changing your desires, your habits, your words, your relationships, and your priorities, do not resist.
Do not resist His love.
Here is what the grace of Jesus will do in you as you allow Him to work:
- Jesus will bring you to the place where you realize that you are a sinner and that you cannot save yourself. You cannot remove your past sins. You cannot change your own heart. You cannot make yourself holy. But you can ask Him to take your heart.
- Jesus will bring you to the place where you ask for help. You may pray, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.” Or you may simply cry out like Peter did when he was sinking, “Lord, save me.” He will even give you the desire to be saved. Ask Him.
- Jesus will bring you to the place where you begin to believe in His love for you, His desire for your good, and His death on the cross for your salvation.
- Jesus will bring you to the place where you want to be made clean. You will begin to hate the sin that once held you. You will become sorry, not merely because sin has consequences, but because sin has wounded the heart of the One who loves you.
- Jesus will bring you to the place where you confess your sins and ask Him for a new beginning. You will stop hiding. You will stop excusing. You will bring the truth into the light because you trust the One who is holding the light.
- When Jesus forgives you, He gives you a clean record. Do not wait until you feel forgiven before you believe His promise. Say, “I believe it is true—not because I feel it, but because God has promised.”
- Jesus will bring you to the place where you want to be baptized because He asks you to follow Him openly.
- Jesus will bring you to the place where the joy of being forgiven becomes visible in your life. Others may begin to notice that something has changed. When they ask, you do not need to explain everything. Just tell them what Jesus has done for you.
- Jesus will bring you to the place where you truly love God.
- Jesus will bring you to the place where you begin to love people—not only the easy people, not only the kind people, not only the people who love you back, but every person He places before you.
- Jesus will bring you to the place where you want to obey Him—not because you are trying to buy His love, but because you finally trust His heart.
And one day, when Jesus is ready, He will take you home to live with Him forever. He will give you life that never ends, joy that never fades, and a world so good you cannot even imagine it.
All because He loves you.
All because He wants you to be truly happy in Him.
So do not resist His love.
The fact that you are reading this right now is evidence that Jesus is still drawing you. A heart that still hears His invitation has not been abandoned by Him.
So continue getting to know Him.
Talk to Him every day.
Open His Word.
Watch how Jesus treated sinners, sufferers, children, doubters, and the brokenhearted. Look at Him long enough, and you will begin to see what God is really like.
And when He calls you to take the next step, take it.
Not to earn His love, but because you have it.
Not to save yourself, but because He is the Savior.
Not because you are strong, but because He is.
Jesus loves you very much. And when someone truly loves you, they want what is best for you.
So let Him have your heart.
Let Him make you willing.
Let Him forgive you.
Let Him change you.
Let Him lead you home.
Do not resist His love.
"… apart from me you can do nothing. " John 15:5 (NLT)
"Submit yourselves therefore to God [do not resist Him] . Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." James 4:7 (KJV)
"In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone." 2 Peter 1:5-7 (NLT)
“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter." Matthew 7:21 (NLT)
"Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." Revelation 22:14 (KJV)
For further consideration:
"When the mind dwells upon self, it is turned away from Christ, the source of strength and life. Hence it is Satan's constant effort to keep the attention diverted from the Savior and thus prevent the union and communion of the soul with Christ. The pleasures of the world, life's cares and perplexities and sorrows, the faults of others, or your own faults and imperfections--to any or all of these he will seek to divert the mind. Do not be misled by his devices." (Steps to Christ)
"We can no more repent without the Spirit of Christ to awaken the conscience than we can be pardoned without Christ." (Steps to Christ)
"It is impossible for us, of ourselves, to escape from the pit of sin in which we are sunken. Our hearts are evil, and we cannot change them." (Steps to Christ)
“... no man can empty himself of self. We can only consent for Christ to accomplish the work. Then the language of the soul will be, Lord, take my heart; for I cannot give it." (Christ’s Object Lessons)
"You are not able, of yourself, to bring your purposes and desires and inclinations into submission to the will of God; but if you are "willing to be made willing," God will accomplish the work for you, even 'casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.' 2 Corinthians 10:5." (Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing)
"...the more we know of God, the more intense will be our happiness." (The Desire of Ages)
"strength to resist evil is best gained by aggressive service ..." (The Acts of the Apostles)
- "The Lord specifies no conditions except that you hunger for His mercy, desire His counsel, and long for His love. "Ask." The asking, makes it manifest that you realize your necessity; and if you ask in faith you will receive. The Lord has pledged His word, and it cannot fail." (Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing)
- "The child cannot, by any anxiety or power of its own, add to its stature. No more can you, by anxiety or effort of yourself, secure spiritual growth." (Steps to Christ)
- "Seek, and you shall find. God is seeking you, and the very desire you feel to come to Him is but the drawing of His Spirit. Yield to that drawing." (Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing)
For an in-depth study of this subject be sure to read those books for yourself:
