Saved and Going to Heaven

This is a continuation of my previous post.

I met up with Rylie again today. (I had asked you all last week to pray for him that God would open his eyes and lead him to repentance.) He told me that he had gone to a church service held in the jail just last night. A pastor from a local church had come in.

"When I first went into the room where the service was held," Rylie said, "I could feel something inside me telling me to get out and not to listen to the pastor. But I stayed in there and felt at peace after a while. My eyes were really opened by what he had to say. He was talking about how the devil makes sin looks good, but it only leads to destruction. I want to be a preacher now. I want to help people find the Lord."

"That's great, Rylie," I told him. "But if you're going to lead people to Jesus, you have to be right with Jesus, yourself. Last week, you said that you weren't repentant about your drug dealing. Has that changed?"

"Yeah, I really want to stop now."

"Then you need to repent of your sins and make Jesus Lord of your life." I explained to him again about what repentance means and what it means to surrender fully to Jesus. "Are you ready to do it?"

Rylie kept talking about what he wanted to do for Christ, but wasn't getting around to actually making a commitment to Christ. I couldn't tell if he was trying to change the subject or if his ADD was kicking in. It did seem to me that he really wanted to turn his life around. After a while, I interjected again: "Rylie, are you ready to repent of your sins and confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord of your life?"

We went back and forth like this a couple more times. Finally, I said, "Rylie, if you want to be saved, you need to confess your sins to God and surrender to Jesus. Do you want to do it right now?"

"I don't know what to do."

"Start by confessing your sins."

"That could take a long time!"

"That's OK. Why don't we go over here." We walked over to a more private spot on the jail floor and sat in a couple of chairs.

"Just tell the Lord you're sorry for your sins. If He brings specific sins to mind, confess them."

"God...," Rylie began, "I'm really sorry..." For the next ten minutes, Rylie wept and confessed his sins. The Holy Spirit kept bringing specific things to mind, and Rylie repented of them.

"What now?" he asked, wiping away tears with his jail uniform.

"Confess Jesus as Lord and ask Him to take control of your life." Rylie was tired of running his own life. He gladly asked Jesus to take over. "I don't want my worth to come from how much money I make on the streets. I just want to be Your child, God."

Afterwards, I assured him of God's forgiveness. Praise God for answered prayer! Pray that Rylie continues on the path of righteousness and grows strong in the Lord.