I've heard it over and over in Pentecostal, Holiness churches - "I prayed for months and months. Finally, after several months of crying and praying, I got saved." I don't mean to minimize anyone's salvation experience. Nor do I wish to impose my experience on everyone. You do not have to get saved the same way I did, as far as the details of your experience. However, let me say it this way: If it took you two weeks of praying to get saved, it did not take the Lord two weeks to save you. He did it instantly! The split second you believed on Jesus Christ was the split second you were born again.
There is a great myth in Holiness churches today, and it has been around for years. As a matter of fact, since I am calling this belief a "myth" someone may accuse me of not being a genuine Holiness man. However, I choose to believe the Bible over anyone's myth. This well-known myth is the belief that one must "pray through" in order to be saved. By "praying through," I mean "praying until you 'feel' saved." Not one place in the Bible does it say that you must pray for a long period of time to be saved. Not one scripture indicates that you must shed tears to be saved. Yet, in many Holiness churches, when a lost person comes to the altar to be saved, we just gather around them, and encourage them to pray for a long time, giving little or no guidance concerning how to be saved! I'm amazed at how many people come to our churches to pray to be saved, and, rather than declaring to them how it is done, we just stand around and let the spiritually blind grope their way to "feeling better."
As I begin, let me say that salvation is simple. Many Holiness people can't stand that statement. They have a list a mile long of rules to keep, standards to obey, and these lists define their salvation. If you really think salvation is difficult, you need to get on your knees, open your Bible to John 19, and read the story of Christ's crucifixion again, because you missed something in it. If the Lord wanted to make salvation hard, don't you think He would have just left us under the law? Friend, Jesus Christ performed the work necessary for salvation, taking the hard part out of it. Jesus did the hard part! Jesus subjected Himself to living in the flesh after leaving the splendor of heaven. He gave His back to the smiters; He gave His cheeks to them that would pluck out the hair; He gave head to the thorns and His hands and feet to the nails. When He was on the cross, His blood flowing out of Him, He cried, "It is finished!" Friend, I believe it's finished. There is not one thing for me to add to this great plan of salvation! All we must to believe, or trust, the work of Christ for our salvation. One day I asked the Lord to save me, and believed Him to do it - and that's exactly what He did. A friend of mine made this statement, and he is exactly right - "I can almost preach that what Christ did on the cross SAVED the entire world. There's not one thing to do; the whole world is saved." Now I know we must believe what Christ did and trust in Him to save us. I'm not taking away from that. But I can sure preach that Christ saved the whole world when He died on the cross before I can preach that we have to add a bunch of things to it. Friend, Christ finished it! Thank God for the simplicity of the gospel!
The myth that one must "pray through" before they are saved is a prominent one in Holiness churches. Some churches make you feel like if you didn't leave a puddle of tears and a puddle of snot at the altar, you didn't get saved. When I first started preaching, I thought that's the way it was. If people didn't spend a good deal of time praying, I didn't think they got saved. Then, I noticed something. I noticed that some who prayed for a long period of time, crying, weeping, and wailing, NEVER CAME BACK TO CHURCH. I noticed others who came to the altar, prayed for a short time, and showed little or no emotion, are going to church to this day and are strong Christians!
In many instances, those who pray for a long period of time to be saved are some of the most unstable people in our churches. I am not picking on them, but look at our youth. Some of them go to the altar at youth camps, spend hours each night there, and give them two weeks and they're out of church. Then, the next year, at youth camp, they "get saved again." This is a repeated process. Those whose salvation is based on how much they prayed and how good they felt when they got up from an altar have an emotion-based salvation. Their salvation is built on it. If you ask them, "How do you know you're saved?" many of them will tell you, "Because I felt this way or that way." Sure, they "prayed through" to a certain feeling. But what happens when the feeling departs (and it will)? They drop out. They're gone. Feelings are wonderful, but they do not provide my assurance of salvation. I KNOW I am saved because of what GOD SAID, and NOT because I "prayed through" until I felt better. Please understand, if it took you a good deal of time to be saved, I am not negating your experience. If you are saved, then thank God for it. But you're salvation better be built on what God said, and not how you feel. If you would have asked me the day after I got saved, "How do you know you're saved?" I would not have said one word about how I felt. I would have said something like this: "God said that if I would ask Him to save me, He would. I asked, and He did." My salvation hinged on what God said. That never changes. Feelings change. God's Word doesn't.
Romans 10, the great salvation chapter, states that ALL a person must do to be saved is confess with the mouth and believe with the heart. When you confess Christ as Lord, and believe (or put your trust in) the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ for your salvation - you are saved. There is not one thing said about "feeling a certain way." There is no indication that you must pray a certain length of time. It says nothing of tears. There is no concept of "praying through" regarding our salvation visible in Romans 10. I have more than 26 verses in the New Testament that state clearly that ALL you have to do to have eternal life is believe. He is not speaking of merely believing in God's existence; the devils do that. It is not just saying, "I believe that Jesus died on the cross." The devil knows that. "Believing" means "putting your faith in what Jesus did. It means you are not trusting your works, your good deeds, your religion, your background, or anything else to save you. You are completely trusting Jesus Christ to save you, and you ask Him to do so based on this truth. Consequently, because you ask, believing Him to save you, HE DOES! It's that simple.
For all these people who believe you must "pray through" in order to be saved, I have a question for them. EVERY TIME in the New Testament, when someone received salvation and their prayer was recorded for us to read, their prayer was EXTREMELY SHORT. Why is this? When Saul of Tarsus changed directions on Damascus Road and began following the Christ He saw, his prayer went this way - "Lord, what would you have me to do." When the publican prayed, he simply smote his breast, saying, "God be merciful to me a sinner," and went home justified. The thief on the cross said simply, "Remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom." As for the eunuch in Acts 8, there's no record of any prayer whatsoever and the Bible doesn't even tell us that he did pray. The eunuch simply told Philip, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." Philip then baptized him. Now, I'm not saying that praying is not important in your salvation. I am saying that your praying better hinge on your "believing" of Christ, or all the praying you do will be in vain.
Two things to do to be saved - Confess with the mouth and believe in the heart. I promise you this - If you believe with all your heart that God will do exactly what He said, it will not take you hours, days, weeks, or months to get it confessed. The moment you believe, you will be saved.
I am not throwing away the idea of "praying through." This concept is a good one for believers. Believers need to get back to praying through. We need to get in our prayer closet, close the door, shut everything else out and pray until answers come. We need to quit worrying about time and just worry about touching the Father. I believe strongly in this kind of "praying through." But as for salvation, just ask the Lord to save you, believing that He will, and you are saved. A lot of our weeping and begging God to save is unnecessary. He is more ready to save than man is to be saved!
There is a great myth in Holiness churches today, and it has been around for years. As a matter of fact, since I am calling this belief a "myth" someone may accuse me of not being a genuine Holiness man. However, I choose to believe the Bible over anyone's myth. This well-known myth is the belief that one must "pray through" in order to be saved. By "praying through," I mean "praying until you 'feel' saved." Not one place in the Bible does it say that you must pray for a long period of time to be saved. Not one scripture indicates that you must shed tears to be saved. Yet, in many Holiness churches, when a lost person comes to the altar to be saved, we just gather around them, and encourage them to pray for a long time, giving little or no guidance concerning how to be saved! I'm amazed at how many people come to our churches to pray to be saved, and, rather than declaring to them how it is done, we just stand around and let the spiritually blind grope their way to "feeling better."
As I begin, let me say that salvation is simple. Many Holiness people can't stand that statement. They have a list a mile long of rules to keep, standards to obey, and these lists define their salvation. If you really think salvation is difficult, you need to get on your knees, open your Bible to John 19, and read the story of Christ's crucifixion again, because you missed something in it. If the Lord wanted to make salvation hard, don't you think He would have just left us under the law? Friend, Jesus Christ performed the work necessary for salvation, taking the hard part out of it. Jesus did the hard part! Jesus subjected Himself to living in the flesh after leaving the splendor of heaven. He gave His back to the smiters; He gave His cheeks to them that would pluck out the hair; He gave head to the thorns and His hands and feet to the nails. When He was on the cross, His blood flowing out of Him, He cried, "It is finished!" Friend, I believe it's finished. There is not one thing for me to add to this great plan of salvation! All we must to believe, or trust, the work of Christ for our salvation. One day I asked the Lord to save me, and believed Him to do it - and that's exactly what He did. A friend of mine made this statement, and he is exactly right - "I can almost preach that what Christ did on the cross SAVED the entire world. There's not one thing to do; the whole world is saved." Now I know we must believe what Christ did and trust in Him to save us. I'm not taking away from that. But I can sure preach that Christ saved the whole world when He died on the cross before I can preach that we have to add a bunch of things to it. Friend, Christ finished it! Thank God for the simplicity of the gospel!
The myth that one must "pray through" before they are saved is a prominent one in Holiness churches. Some churches make you feel like if you didn't leave a puddle of tears and a puddle of snot at the altar, you didn't get saved. When I first started preaching, I thought that's the way it was. If people didn't spend a good deal of time praying, I didn't think they got saved. Then, I noticed something. I noticed that some who prayed for a long period of time, crying, weeping, and wailing, NEVER CAME BACK TO CHURCH. I noticed others who came to the altar, prayed for a short time, and showed little or no emotion, are going to church to this day and are strong Christians!
In many instances, those who pray for a long period of time to be saved are some of the most unstable people in our churches. I am not picking on them, but look at our youth. Some of them go to the altar at youth camps, spend hours each night there, and give them two weeks and they're out of church. Then, the next year, at youth camp, they "get saved again." This is a repeated process. Those whose salvation is based on how much they prayed and how good they felt when they got up from an altar have an emotion-based salvation. Their salvation is built on it. If you ask them, "How do you know you're saved?" many of them will tell you, "Because I felt this way or that way." Sure, they "prayed through" to a certain feeling. But what happens when the feeling departs (and it will)? They drop out. They're gone. Feelings are wonderful, but they do not provide my assurance of salvation. I KNOW I am saved because of what GOD SAID, and NOT because I "prayed through" until I felt better. Please understand, if it took you a good deal of time to be saved, I am not negating your experience. If you are saved, then thank God for it. But you're salvation better be built on what God said, and not how you feel. If you would have asked me the day after I got saved, "How do you know you're saved?" I would not have said one word about how I felt. I would have said something like this: "God said that if I would ask Him to save me, He would. I asked, and He did." My salvation hinged on what God said. That never changes. Feelings change. God's Word doesn't.
Romans 10, the great salvation chapter, states that ALL a person must do to be saved is confess with the mouth and believe with the heart. When you confess Christ as Lord, and believe (or put your trust in) the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ for your salvation - you are saved. There is not one thing said about "feeling a certain way." There is no indication that you must pray a certain length of time. It says nothing of tears. There is no concept of "praying through" regarding our salvation visible in Romans 10. I have more than 26 verses in the New Testament that state clearly that ALL you have to do to have eternal life is believe. He is not speaking of merely believing in God's existence; the devils do that. It is not just saying, "I believe that Jesus died on the cross." The devil knows that. "Believing" means "putting your faith in what Jesus did. It means you are not trusting your works, your good deeds, your religion, your background, or anything else to save you. You are completely trusting Jesus Christ to save you, and you ask Him to do so based on this truth. Consequently, because you ask, believing Him to save you, HE DOES! It's that simple.
For all these people who believe you must "pray through" in order to be saved, I have a question for them. EVERY TIME in the New Testament, when someone received salvation and their prayer was recorded for us to read, their prayer was EXTREMELY SHORT. Why is this? When Saul of Tarsus changed directions on Damascus Road and began following the Christ He saw, his prayer went this way - "Lord, what would you have me to do." When the publican prayed, he simply smote his breast, saying, "God be merciful to me a sinner," and went home justified. The thief on the cross said simply, "Remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom." As for the eunuch in Acts 8, there's no record of any prayer whatsoever and the Bible doesn't even tell us that he did pray. The eunuch simply told Philip, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." Philip then baptized him. Now, I'm not saying that praying is not important in your salvation. I am saying that your praying better hinge on your "believing" of Christ, or all the praying you do will be in vain.
Two things to do to be saved - Confess with the mouth and believe in the heart. I promise you this - If you believe with all your heart that God will do exactly what He said, it will not take you hours, days, weeks, or months to get it confessed. The moment you believe, you will be saved.
I am not throwing away the idea of "praying through." This concept is a good one for believers. Believers need to get back to praying through. We need to get in our prayer closet, close the door, shut everything else out and pray until answers come. We need to quit worrying about time and just worry about touching the Father. I believe strongly in this kind of "praying through." But as for salvation, just ask the Lord to save you, believing that He will, and you are saved. A lot of our weeping and begging God to save is unnecessary. He is more ready to save than man is to be saved!
