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How Do I begin a relationship with Jesus Christ?
God loves you and created you to have a good relationship with Him. 

• ‘But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’ (Romans 5:8)
• 'He chose us in him before the foundations of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.  In love he predestined us for adoption…through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.’ (Ephesians 1:4-5)

Despite how you sometimes ignore God, Jesus lived, died, and rose from the dead to restore your relationship with God.When you respond to the Lord Jesus Christ, your relationship with God grows.

• ‘But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God’ (John 1:12)
• ‘Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. (Colossians 2:6-7)

Your story may be messy, muddled, and sometimes in disarray.  Thank God that He has never stopped loving you! The Bible makes it clear that we have to do something to accept the gift God offers. This is an act of faith. The disciple John writes,

• “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16)

Believing involves an act of faith, based on all that we know about Jesus.  It is not blind faith. You have to ask God to forgive you for all the things you have done wrong and turn from everything that you know is wrong in your life. 

That is what the Bible means by ‘repentance’
You believe that Jesus died for you on the cross. You need to thank Him for dying for you and for the offer of His free gifts of forgiveness, freedom and His Spirit. God never forces His way into our lives.  You need to accept His gift and invite Him to come and live within you by His Spirit. If you would like to have a relationship with God and you are ready to say these things, then here is a very simple prayer you can pray that will be the start of that relationship.

Confess to Jesus
Lord Jesus Christ, I am sorry for the things I have done wrong in my life.
(Take a few moments to ask His forgiveness for anything particular that is on your conscience.) Please forgive me. I now turn from everything that I know is wrong. Thank you that you died on the cross for me so that I could be forgiven and set free. Thank you that you offer me forgiveness and the gift of your Spirit.  I now receive that gift.
Please come into my life by your Holy Spirit, to be with me forever. Amen

You probably have already discovered that life didn’t suddenly become perfect when you met Jesus.  You still have problems and life is still complicated and messy.  You will struggle to fight sin and temptation everyday.  The difference is Jesus is now in the middle of your complicated, messy life.  He knows that you struggle with sin, and He knows that you will never be perfect or have a perfect life on earth. 

As a child in God’s family, you will at times mess up and sin.  But God’s love for you is so great that He will forgive you! When you ask God to forgive you, you are saying to Him that you are truly sorry and will turn your back on sin and not do it anymore. It is not helpful to make excuses for our sins because our loving Father already sees every move we make. Instead we should confess our sins to God. He will forgive us completely because when Jesus died on the cross, He paid the penalty for every sin we will ever commit.‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’ (1 John 1:9) God intended for His family to live and love in community. This is much more than attending a church service. It’s about the Body of Christ working and serving together and caring for one another. Trust Christ to make changes happen in your life. In the same way that only Jesus can save you from your sins, only He can provide the power you need to become more like Him.

• ‘Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.’ (Philippians 1:6)

How Do I tell my friends and family about my decision?
Find someone in your life who is a believer in Jesus Christ and tell them about your decision. Ask them to pray for you. In addition to telling your friends and family about your decision, let them see it in the way you live your life. Actions speak louder than words! What now?

Excerpts taken from ‘The Alpha Course Manual’ c 1993 Alpha International and ‘Living the Story’ c 2007 Youth For Christ/USA