How to Actually Read the Bible | Firm Foundation

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Join us as Caleb Kolstad brings a message on how to actually read the Bible. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I'm excited to be here. What I want you to do is I want you to turn to your neighbor. And if you love Jesus, tell your neighbor, I love Jesus. Good. I'm in the right place. That's why I did that. Well, I'm excited to be here today. I get to bring you a word today. It was built through prayer. It was built through quiet time, study, and uh, it's gonna be a good message. And so, I'm Caleb Colstad. If you don't already know me, my last name's Colstad. I am my dad's son. The pastor of the church. I get to be the production team lead here. We have 60 plus people on the production team. It is such a joy to get to lead that team and steward the technology and the resources and tools and people that God has has graced us with at Westside. And I'm the production lead with a pastoral calling. As you guys probably know, I get to live that out. Thanks be to Jesus. Thanks be to the team here at Westside. And uh I felt that call in my life when I was 15 years old at Black Lake Bible Camp. I felt God very clearly tell me you're gonna be pastor. And it was that day that changed the trajectory of my life. And actually, today, our middle schoolers over in the youth are going to Black Lake Bible Camp. Give them an ad. We're gonna have so many middle schoolers that that this very week have life-changing experiences, just like I did when I was 15. And so keep them in your prayers because their lives are about to be changed. They're about to meet new friends and have community that challenges them and they're gonna have a good time too. Black League's hilarious. You have a good time. They do some very interesting challenges there. I've experienced a few really weird challenges. Ask me after. I'll bring it up after with you. But today we get to talk about my favorite topic, and it's the Bible. We get to talk about the Bible today. This is God's perfect, his true living word, and we're gonna study it today in part five of our Firm Foundation series. Who's been here for more than one of the Firm Foundation series messages? Beautiful, good. Well, as you guys know, we've been talking all about the Bible, and we're going deep on the foundation of the Bible, right? And so today's message is how to actually read the Bible. That's the message today. Now I love the saying: don't say God is silent when your Bible is closed. Don't say God's silent when your Bible is closed, right? I started my devotional life super young. I still remember to this day, I started when I was five years old, and I'd walk downstairs at my parents' house at 6 a.m. before school. I'd go to the heater vent, and my dad and I would read our Bibles together at 6 a.m. on the heater vent, and then we'd journal about it and we pray about it. I did that every day from five years old till I don't even know how how old. And then I started doing it more on my own, and that carried through all the way to today. I had amazing examples of true devotion. Obviously, my parents are are devoted people of Jesus. My grandparents, who knows, Pastor Ken? Give him a hand. Yes. That is, it's everyone's cute grandpa, but he's actually mine. So I have a feature to that one. I was always super consistent in my devotion life, though, all of growing up. I grew up in ministry, right? So I saw all the ups and all the downs you could possibly have. So I knew what not to do and what to do fairly quickly because of how much I watched it, especially in my house. But just a few years ago, there was a really, really stressful time in my in my business that I own outside of West Side. And uh I was working 120 hours a week on average. I was not sleeping because there are a lot of massive decisions that I had to make, and I needed to change things because uh it was going down a path that I didn't want it to go down with some things that occurred. And so I wasn't sleeping. I'd have days where I'd just cry in my office alone. My parents would be out doing who knows what, and I'd be in my office just figuring out what am I supposed to do about this. And what I noticed was one day I looked over to my side, and on this white little table in the back room was my Bible sitting there. And I was I haven't picked up my Bible today. I haven't picked up my Bible for a couple days. I was 17 years old, I think, and I looked over, I went, what in the world? I had no idea, right? Until that day, I looked over and I went, I haven't touched that in a couple days. No wonder I'm lost. Right? I was absorbed in what I had let become chaos. I knew I needed God's wisdom. I knew I needed his word, but I was caught up in what the world had swept me into, right? What I thought was, I thought God was silent in the time when I needed him most. And then I realized this is all my fault, right? I'm lucky enough now to be on the other side of this, right? I worked really hard through that season to learn and to not do it again. And I I got the joy of getting to take care of all those hard situations head on because I was challenged to in community. But at that time I struggled with thinking I needed to do it all alone because I didn't know what else to go to, right? I lacked my time with God because I was swept up in the world. If you know me, you know that's not normal for me at all. That is not a characteristic of Caleb to just be not obedient or not disciplined, especially in my Bible. But it took me, and I know now, that I should have sacrificed anything else besides my devotion. I should have sacrificed anything else but my devotion. I should have sacrificed 30 minutes for devotion over the 24 hours of the day, right? But my faith hadn't been tested to that point yet. To that point of resiliency. Raise your hand if you've gone through a trial in your life. Have you ever been through a trial of any sort? Good. So you've learned more resiliency. Most trials teach you resiliency, right? I'm blessed to have learned that at a young age, right? I said 17 years old. And now my time with God is an oak tree. It stands the test of time, winds could blow, that thing's not falling over. If you walked into my office in my house, you would see my Bible literally open 24-7, because I believe you can't say God is silent when your Bible is closed. And so my Bible stays open all the time. You will not catch this not open at all times. But a lot of us struggle with this, right? Raise your hand if you've ever tripped up in your devotion life, ever in the past. Have you ever tripped up in your devotion life? Keep it raised, like raise it boldly. Have you ever tripped up in your devotional life? This who is not raising their hands? You are a god. Jeez. No. Please tell me your secrets after service. But that's very good. I think we'd all agree we've all tripped up at some point in our devotion life. We've missed a day. We've skimmed it. Maybe you made every day in the last year, but you skimmed it multiple times. You got nothing from it, and you checked off that box, right? You went, yeah, got them done. Now I can tell people I got it done. That's also tripping up, right? It might have been due to busyness. It could have been even due to like, hey, life is really good though. I don't really need anything. I don't need help right now, so I don't need to open this. Maybe things were so hard that you felt like nothing could help. You're just at that point, you're like, the Bible can't even help me right now. Maybe you felt like you were too far gone. Maybe you were embarrassed that if you opened your Bible or prayed, God would find out about your sin. Oh my. That's a lie, by the way. It's like this song about Santa. He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake, he sees all the things. So don't act like he doesn't know, right? Whatever your excuse or story might be, I've noticed that there's one secret, there's a secret that we need, and it's your first point. It is study the Bible faithfully. If you don't already have your notes, grab your notes, whether you're online, whether you're in person, grab your notes from that program that you got at the door, and uh you'll see that first point there is study the Bible faithfully. Now, today's society is obviously insanely saturated with information, like constantly, right? You scroll Instagram, you open your email, you look at your text messages. You're getting information literally for hours a day all the time. What I've noticed, and you're probably gonna agree, is we are, even through that, starved for actual lived wisdom. Are we starved for lived wisdom? Even in the insane rate of like in of info consumption, we're starved for lived wisdom. And what the issue is, is we rarely let the wisdom change us. Right? Now that's not the story in Nehemiah 8, 8 through 9. So in your notes, we're gonna read through Nehemiah 8, 8 through 9. It says this they read from the book of the law of God and clearly explained the meaning of what was being read, helping the people understand each passage. Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were interpreting for the people said to them, Don't mourn or weep on such a day as this, for today is a sacred day before the Lord your God. For the people had all been weeping as they listened to the words of the law. Love that. Now, this, for some context, is 445 BC in the city of Jerusalem. So the Israelites at this point are traumatized because they were scattered in exile in Babylon for multiple generations. So multiple generations below them, they were scattered in exile in Babylon. They were lost, they were confused, and they had finally returned to Jerusalem. Under Nehemiah's leadership, they ended up building this massive fortified wall to protect Jerusalem. Now, in this time, fortified walls weren't just like cool architecture, like your back fence. It wasn't like, oh, that's pretty, we can't see our neighbors anymore. Good. No, these fortified walls were humongous. And what they actually were were they were the way you wouldn't get slaughtered in your sleep as a human living in Jerusalem. And so this really was the ultimate symbol for physical and psychological safety. But that new safety of the wall was actually the catalyst of what we see in Nehemiah 8, 8 through 9. With that new safety came that. And the leadership, right, Nehemiah and the government, they didn't mandate official assemblies like you might see in some parts of the Bible, where they're like, hey, you need to go and meet and read together and learn together. They didn't mandate that. The Israelites that were just lost, scattered in exile in Babylon, they came to Jerusalem and they said, Hey, Ezra, open the book of the law and read it to us. Because they were so lost, when they got back, they were starved for lived wisdom, right? So they demanded Ezra to bring out the book of the law and read. This was unforced hunger for truth. That's what I want us all to have, is an unforced hunger for truth. Literally, the people would stand there for hours and just listen methodically. They'd just stand there for hours and listen to the word because they wanted that wisdom. They'd listen to the point of weeping. Did you catch that in that in that scripture? They started weeping because of how much it pierced their soul and changed them. So what I want to do is I want to unpack what is involved in studying the Bible faithfully, as we said, just like the Israelites did. And so I found that according to scriptures, it breaks down into four very clear parts. You'll see in your notes there's four more uh fill-ins that we're gonna walk through. And what you'll notice is it actually doesn't start with what we read, but it starts with the posture that we take when we approach it. So point one is the Bible comes alive when we read it carefully. That's your first fill-in. Put that in your notes. The Bible comes alive when we read it carefully. Nehemiah 8:3 says, He faced the square just inside the water gate from early morning until noon and read aloud to everyone who could understand. All the people listened closely to the book of the law. From early morning until noon, all the people listened closely to the book of the law. You see that? They read it carefully over time. Has anyone here done the Bible within a year challenge? Raise your hand if you've ever done the Bible within a year challenge, or you've even tried to read the paper Bible within a year. Good. I think it's an awesome thing. I think it's a great challenge, but there's a very unhealthy side of it, and it's what can become the race. Right? Gotta get my Bible streak, right? It's 500. Someone told me yesterday their Bible streak was 500. And so they just, at some point, it becomes checking a box, right? Or you're thinking, you can't get behind, right? I got work today. Work starts at 7 a.m. I gotta be there. And they didn't wake up 30 minutes earlier, fit in my devotion. That is so unhealthy. All the things I just listed are so unhealthy. Don't ever read the Bible in a hurry. Give extra time. My Papa says often, I read it slowly. I've got no one to impress. And I love that. Who do you have to impress? No one. God's watching. My dad, the pastor of Westside, he reads two chapters a day, and then he journals, and then he prays about it. Two chapters. Who here thought that he read a full book per morning? Did you think? And now you're like, oh, I thought you were more Christian. No, I'm joking. No. Because what you notice, what you notice over time, and I know my papa does this too, what you notice is over time, you notice it's not about how much you read, it's about how much you understand and digest what you read. Right? I think of it like a love note, right? If my wife, Maria, if she came to me and gave me a love note, and then I just speed read through that thing, well, boom, it's done. Just so I can go to one of my friends and say, I just read that note, it's done. Read. That's not how it works, right? Because what's the point of me reading that love note if I didn't literally absorb a single bit of affection from it? If you want the text to change you, don't skim it. Read it carefully. Say that with me. Read it carefully. Now, one thing I've noticed is especially with our modern ego, the amount of the amount of information we're consuming constantly, we have an ego. And with that ego, we need to read it with humility. And that is your second point. Read it with humility. Acts 17, 11 says, And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica. And they listened eagerly to Paul's message. They searched the scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth. They searched the scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth. So just before this, Paul was in Thessalonica, as that scripture says. Now in Thessalonica, the scriptures say they were very close-minded. And let me tell you that this wasn't just like an ignoring, like, don't talk to me. It was like they got very mad and they mobbed, they formed a mob in the public square. And then what they did with that mob is they started a riot. All because Paul was trying to teach scripture. They literally formed a mob and started to riot. So it wasn't like, it wasn't like, oh, I'm just gonna ignore you. It was like, I want to kill you. Stop preaching, right? Because they were too prideful. So Paul gets sent out of Thessalonica and he goes to Berea. In Berea, they were completely different, nothing like Thessalonica. They were actually very humble, they were very open-minded. And uh they weren't necessarily gullible or like passively open to what Paul was saying, but they examined what he was saying. They listened eagerly, right? It says right in the scripture, they humbly examined the scriptures every single day to fact-check Paul's claims. Berea, unlike Thessalonica, right? It reminds me of like, think of years past at a Thanksgiving table. Oh, what a beautiful day. Thanksgiving and gratefulness. And then there's one relative that brings up a really divisive topic. And you know that not all your family agrees. You're like, oh gosh, they do not agree with that. And I just saw them do one of these, right? And you're like, oh my gosh, are they gonna say what are they about to say, right? And they become closed off immediately. Right when that divisive or that divisive topic or disagreement comes up, they're closed off. You'll notice it's often because it challenged their worldview, right? Almost every time it's because it challenged their worldview and they're not willing to listen humbly. Now you know that family member, put them in your mind. Who is it? Who is that person? They are Thessalonica. They're often prideful, they're frustrated, they're annoyed, maybe they're offended, right? Don't be like Thessalonica. Be like Berea. Be like the people of Berea. Now I have a challenge for you because I don't want you to just leave here hating that family member more. That's not my goal. My goal is for you to actually think about that family member and notice my challenge for you is what if they're in your life on purpose? What if they're in your life to sharpen your character? What if they're in your life to be a trial for you to overcome? Right? Well, that's where point three comes in, which is read it with community. Read it with community. Do we have any guys from Men's Alliance here? Can you stand up if you're from Men's Alliance? Nice. MA, MA, MA, MA. Nice. Okay. Yeah, beautiful. Men's Alliance is awesome. Now, some of the guys aren't wearing their shirts. They're supposed to today because it's the first of the month. But those that are wearing their shirts, you'll see, you'll see those guys. Uh they're wearing a shirt that says on it 2717. And that verse is the verse of Men's Alliance. And uh it's referring actually to Proverbs 2017. Now, Proverbs 27, 17, I want you to read it out loud with me right now. As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend. Beautiful. That is the verse of men's alliance. I think that is such a great verse. It's on all their shirts because they believe in it. Right there in 27, 17, is often where the needed friction happens. Almost always, right? It's where the needed friction happens. Just as one metal blade needs another to become sharp, you do too. Now, what you'll notice is it's not always a comfortable process, right? Sharpening a blade is not a comfortable process. It's actually one of the worst sounds known to man, right? It's abrasive, it's loud, it's destructive, and so sometimes is community. That is the point. If it's healthy, which we're gonna talk about in a second here, but it's not always comfortable. It often involves very hard conversations and rethinking processes or theology being challenged in places you don't want to be challenged, but the growth happens right there. Would you agree? Who's in a group and would agree? Raise your hand. That is where the growth happens. I know it firsthand. What I can effectively guarantee you is if you stay in isolation, your character will remain dull. Do you want a dull character? I don't either. I want you to make sure that you're using the resources that we give you here at Westside because we Have all these great things so that you can be sharpened in your character, so that you can be sharpened in your disciple, in your ability to be a disciple. And so we have something here called growth groups. Who knows growth groups? Yeah. Our director of growth groups is actually in the back right now. Her name is Jess Bishop. And growth groups are made for this very thing. It is made to be in community with others and sharpen each other. And so be sharpened in your devotion, in your understanding, and join a growth group. But in sharpening each other is also where impurities become known, right? Now Matthew 18 is a great scripture that talks all about conflict and accountability within the church. And the verse 20 provides us this assurance right here. For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them. For two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them. This right here is where the best, most needed and hard conversations happen. It's in a caring community of believers. Every time. Matthew 18 confirms that the community's effort to lovingly confront sin and restore unity is divinely sanctioned by the Bible. And I have this right here. When believers unite in Jesus' name, meaning they are operating under his authority, seeking his will, and doing things his way, Christ is present, catch this, to guide and back them up. Oh, how beautiful. I love that. So, like my story that I told you at the beginning, right? About my hard time. I wasn't carrying the sword of the spirit daily. That's what the scriptures call it, is the sword of the spirit. It is this. I wasn't carrying it daily. And until I picked my Bible up, and then I was challenged by my mom to go and confront that hard situation head on, that situation kept going. It took me picking up my Bible and talking with community. And then would you look at that? It literally takes a it took a few days once I did that to overcome the entire scenario. That was a multi-week stressful process. Within a few days after I picked up my Bible and talked with community, boom, done. Why? Because God says that's what will happen. Right? What I learned is you need community and consistent discipline through it all where you aren't putting on your armor every day. You don't walk out of your house and go to work without getting dressed. Am I right? Sure hope so. Then why do you not put on your armor every single day? Because you walk outside into the world where the devil is to steal, kill, and destroy, and you let everyone bother you and you don't know how to handle situations, you're confused, you're mad, because you have no armor on. You have no offense or defense, right? And you really, you should not be okay with that. And that is where point four comes in. Make sure you read it with obedience. Read it with obedience. Another good word for this one is discipline, right? Like we were talking about. Now there's this thing called the law of the pickle. You probably were wondering why I have variations of cucumbers and pickles over here, right? The law of the pickle states you smell like what you soak in most. So out of these two jars, there's pickle brine in here. This has been in here here for a few days, okay? Which one, if I go like this and put this back, which one is more likely to be a pickle? Number one or number two? Beautiful, right? Now, who challenges me that this right here is not full of pickles? Read this, uh, can you guys read this label for me? Baby pickles. It says baby pickles. Why would you say that this is a pickle and this is not boom, nailed in. Those are pickles because they've soaked in the pickle juice for longer. You aren't automatically a pickle. Right? You aren't. You just aren't. You have to soak in the pickle juice. Now, over time, the point is you take on the traits of your environment and the things you immerse yourself in most. You do. And so you need to continuously soak in the Word of God. You can't expect your character to transform if you dip your toe in it, just like I did with that cucumber once a week. You just can't expect it. That's unrealistic, that makes no sense, right? So don't let a lack of obedience or a relationship or a bad habit be the thing that takes you out of the pickle brine. Don't let it. Or you're fooling yourself. James 1.22 is in your notes. It says, but don't just listen to God's word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are fooling yourselves. Now, the original Greek word for doers is a word that's pronounced poi tie. Say that with me. Poi tai. It states that it requires continual, habitual, creative action. That's what the word poi tie implies. Continual, habitual, creative action. Now it's not a one-time event, right? This is a lifestyle of applied obedience. That's what this is. I think of it like marriage, right? You need to think of reading your Bible in likeness to your marriage. You don't always feel in love with your spouse. You also don't always feel like doing the things you know you should do. Right? There are ups and downs because our feelings are fleeting. Do not base your devotion life off your feelings unless you want a fleeting relationship with God. Write this down in your notes. The emotion of love is the byproduct of the action of love. The emotion of love is the byproduct of the action of love. Point is if you want to feel that way, act that way first. Right? So take the continual disciplined action of studying your Bible daily. Romans 16, 19 says, Everyone has heard about your obedience. So I rejoice because of you. But I want you to be wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil. I want to be known for that. I want to be talked about around the town for my obedience, for knowing what is good and being innocent about what is bad. But you can't be known for this if when things get tough, your habits go out the door. Right? Amen. Amen. Beautiful. So remember this motion creates emotion. Motion creates emotion. Write down your notes. Motion creates emotion. I know for me the goal is to be more like Jesus every day, right? And this right here is literally the blueprint to how to be more like Jesus every day. This right here is what will keep your path straight. I know it for a fact. The contingency is this. You need to know it like the back of your hand. You cannot have this keep your path straight and be more like Jesus if it sits on a shelf. Impossible. Right? You have to know it like the back of your hand. I call it scriptural ammo. You have to know it like the back of your hand so that in every turn of life, in every wind that blows, in every hard situation, you're able to pull out a scripture that guides you in that moment. You have to have scriptural ammo that is ready to pull out. That right there is what makes a true disciple. I know it. That right there is what makes a true disciple according to scripture. Someone that is like Jesus, that's walking down the road, and you point at them, you go, something's different about them. You know what it is? They got scriptural ammo. They act like Jesus, they have the light of Jesus. I love this quote from Charlie Sheen of all people. It says this. It says, With time, I've learned that maturing isn't about getting older, it's about growing wiser. I love that quote. This is the blueprint to wisdom. Because you know what? Chronological age and the amount of books that you skim will not guarantee wisdom. This, if read and applied, guarantees wisdom. What would your home look like if every single person in your home read the Bible daily, carefully, humbly, communally, obediently? What would your home look like? Because I bet it would be so good. I bet it would be these things right here. Loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle. I bet it would have a lot of self-control. I bet it would be filled with those things. And imagine how much better your home would be if it was like that. You're probably thinking now, wonderful, I'm gonna leave here. I'm not gonna be the same tomorrow. I'm gonna apply these learnings, but what am I supposed to do tomorrow? What do I do? And so I want to give you a practical next step because I believe that what I say on Sunday, I want to be used on Monday. Amen. And so I want you to do this at the bottom of your notes, whether you're online or in your own person, we have this thing called the DBS outline. It's known as Discovery Bible study. This will guide you through what to read and what questions to reflect on and journal about. So it goes, hey, read Nehemiah 8, and then it'll tell you. Put this in your own words. Explain it on your own. And then it'll ask you, what does this say about God? What does this say about people? And that right there, you could literally apply that every single day of your life, and now you know how to study the Bible. Just apply the DBS outline to every scripture you read, and then you will actually be digesting it, not just skimming it. We'll say on Sunday, I want to be used on Monday. So it's do it tomorrow. Read Nehemiah 8 and go through that, okay? Now that is assuming that you already have the Holy Spirit, that you already believe the Bible is true, that you want to study it more. And for some of you guys, you don't you don't have Jesus in your life, and you don't have him in your heart. And so I want to give you the chance to change your life today. You're probably thinking right now, right? Oh man, here comes the Jesus sales pitch. You know what I have to say to that? Heck yes! Here it comes. I do. I believe we should all be excellent salespeople for Jesus. Because you know what? He changed my life. And I've learned over time that if I don't give you a chance to change your life by accepting Jesus just like I have, I'm doing you a disservice. Now, the difference between a car salesman and me is I'm not selling you something that's gonna break down tomorrow. Right? What I'm actually selling you is a perfect God that is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Forever. He's gonna save you from your sin. He's gonna wash you clean, he's gonna direct your path. He makes it so simple. It's one prayer to accept Jesus as your Savior and literally change your life forever. It requires one prayer. And you know what's even cooler? Jesus already paid the price. You might be thinking, wait, what about my works? What about my earned way to heaven? What about money? What about all this stuff? No, it's literally all paid and done because of what he did on the cross for us. He was crucified, he was murdered on the cross for my sins and your sins. Think about that for a sec. He paid the price already, it costs us nothing. Now I know this is the most important decision I ever made in my life. I love my wife so much. Getting married to her was one of the most important decisions of my life. This is the most important decision I ever made in my life. I want you to know you're not too bad or too good to be saved. Did you know that Paul was Saul before he became a disciple of Jesus? And you know what Saul did? He murdered people like you and me. He murdered Christians. That was literally what he did day in, day out was murder Christians. But what God did was he saved Paul or Saul from his sin. He washed it clean, as far as the East is from the West. That's what the scriptures say. We all need saving, I do too. That's why I gave my life to Jesus. I love what my friend Caden says. He says, we've all got a God-sized hole in our heart, and we're constantly looking for ways to fill it before we know that that way is God. We think it's a new car, we think it's a new iPad, oh, we think it's like, oh, a certain place that we haven't traveled to. We think it's all these things until you notice it's a God-sized hole. The only thing that can fill it is God. That puzzle piece is made for Him, right? So if you haven't given your life to Jesus yet, today, and you know that it's time that you surrender your life to Jesus, you know that you don't want to do things on your own. You want to be in heaven eternally with me and with God and every other believer that's ever been saved. You want eternal life in heaven. You want to be saved from your sin. You know that Jesus says he is the only way, the only truth, and the only life? As in one single, there's no other way. Did you know that there's no other religion's book that says that? All of them state Jesus is one of the ways. Did you know that? All of them state Jesus is one of the ways. Until Jesus said, the buck stops with me. What do you mean? I am the way. You're not. He's the way, the truth, and the life. I know this. After today, you will not be the same. You won't. You'll walk away from today, and your devotion life will be better, your marriage life will be better, your work will be better, every part of your life will be better. And I know that. So I have a prayer that I want you to repeat after me in your mind and heart. What I want you to do with a prayer is I want it to mean everything to you. So bow your heads and close your eyes and truly mean this prayer with me. Jesus, I give you my life. Thank you for saving me. I believe in you. Your life, your death on the cross, and your resurrection. Forgive me of my sins. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. Lead me and teach me to follow you. And I ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.