Invitations from Jesus to a Life Journey

The Bible tells us that each of us can know Jesus, really know Him, in an experiential and relational way. 

I invite you to join me in a JOURNEY through Jesus’ life as told by John, an eyewitness of Jesus. John knew Jesus well and penned the gospel of John in the Bible.

John offers INVITATIONS spoken by Jesus to come, investigate, listen and engage in a Life Journey with him.  The journey is heading somewhere!  Have the pleasure of experiencing the Journey as we go from one INVITATION of Jesus to the next.

Open a Bible to John 1:1-14 and read.  Here we experience Jesus’ first personal INVITATION to us:

“Jesus was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.  He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.  Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God----children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”

This first INVITATION changes everything for the journey. In truth, THIS invitation is what births the journey!  Before we choose to receive and believe in Jesus’ name we may ponder, observe, calculate, resist, ask questions, think through if this journey is the Real Deal. We might call this time PRE-JOURNEY INVESTIGATION. This time is vital.  There are no stupid questions, and we need not rush through this time.  But there comes a day when investigation births RELATIONSHIP. We go from watching to participating in believing! And our personal journey with Jesus begins.

This first invitation to RECEIVE JESUS and BELIEVE IN HIS NAME, becoming a CHILD OF GOD, BORN OF GOD is far more dramatic than our first birth.  But we often can’t see that right away.  Journeying with Jesus reveals what happened when we chose to believe.

As I look back on my conversion, becoming a child of God, I now see how dramatic that decision was!  There was a new life living in me and I knew it wasn’t any longer just me inside. A new Presence who was Good and who loved me had entered. I wasn’t lost anymore, and I started to be found more and more. I now see I was being guided by Him. 

Paul, an apostle of Jesus, helps us understand becoming a child of God, “Whenever anyone turns to the Lord the veil is taken away. Now, the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:16-18).

Where are you today with Jesus’ first INVITATION to receive and believe in his name, becoming a child of God?  Are you contemplating turning to him? Are you still in the pre-journey investigation? Or did you respond to Jesus’ invitation some time ago and then fall away?

This first personal INVITATION of Jesus to receive him:

opens the door to transformation of our lives;

we experience freedom from the world that had us captured;

we are set free to know and follow him;

to let go of darkness in exchange for his light;

to experience his presence and start the journey. 

This first INVITATION is waiting!  Jesus desires and welcomes us to come. 

The Renewing Life Center exists to offer guidance, clinical care and Christian support for you and yours!  Call the Center if you desire to be in conversation with me or our many excellent Christian counselors.

Join me for the second INVITATION of Jesus in my next blog.