Adrian Rogers - Five Principles of Prosperity
Would you be finding in the Word of God, the Book of Genesis. That's the first book in the Bible, obviously, and fast forward over, if you would, to chapter 24. And then when you get into chapter 24, go down to verse 56, and I'm going to read that verse. Then later on, we'll get into the entire chapter. We're talking to you about prosperity and five principles of prosperity. Notice in this verse that I'm referencing here, Genesis 24 verse 56, "And he said unto them, 'Hinder me not, seeing the Lord hath prospered my way.'" How would you like for God to do that for you? How would you like to be able to say, "Listen, God has prospered my way"?
Now, the Bible teaches clearly and plainly that God takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servants. And the first Psalm in the Bible, Psalm 1, speaks of the man who's like a tree planted by the rivers of water, and that Psalm ends with a gigantically, glorious promise. Listen to it. Don't try to water it down. It says this in verse 3, "And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper". So don't tell me that God doesn't want you to prosper. God takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servants. Our problem is that many of us don't understand what real prosperity is. And so we're going to talk about genuine prosperity and give you five principles for prosperity.
Now in this chapter in Genesis chapter 24, we're going to read a statement often, five times the word: good speed, if you have the King James, as I have, will appear in this chapter. The word: good speed. Other translations give it in a more modern or up-to-date rendering. One translation translates it: continually success. It may be translated good speed, success, or prosperity, whatever you want, but it means that God's hand is upon you. God is with you, helping you to do those things He wants you to do. Are you ready for these five principles of prosperity? They're going to come out of this chapter. And let me give you the background for the chapter. Abraham is the father of the Jewish nation. He has a son of promise. That son's name is Isaac.
Isaac, in the Bible, is a type or a figure, an illustration, of the Lord Jesus who is to come because both of these sons were sons of promise, sons of miracle birth, and sons of sacrifice, and so forth. We don't have time to get into that, but just put it in your mind that Isaac is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now Isaac needs a bride. And the desire of the father, Abraham, is to get a bride for his son Isaac. Do you know what the desire of our heavenly Father is? A bride for His Son Jesus, and the church is the bride of Christ.
Now, guys, I don't know whether you like the feeling or not, but you, too, are a bride. We are the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what is the desire of the Father? Well, the Father wants a bride for His Son. Now this is the background of this. And so Abraham chooses his most trusted servant, whose name is Eliezer, and he sends him off on a mission to get a bride for his son. And he comes back with a beautiful girl named Rebekah.
Now Eliezer, Abraham typifies and pictures God the Father, Isaac pictures God the Son, and Eliezer pictures God the Holy Spirit. Well, what is the purpose, what is the office work, what is the motivation and the high privilege and responsibility of God the Holy Spirit? To seek a bride for Isaac. And so the Holy Spirit is working here today just calling out a bride for the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Eliezer is going now to seek a bride for Isaac. Now that is the background. And God prospered Eliezer, and God gave Eliezer good speed. God gave Eliezer prosperity. As he said, "The Lord hath prospered me in my way". Now we can look at that and we can find five principles of prosperity. Are you with me so far?
Principle number one: establish your cause. Put it down in your notes, or put it down certainly in your mind, establish your cause. Now you've got to have something that motivates you, something that drives you. Every person needs a cause, a reason, a God-given goal and purpose for his life. Read now the first four verses, Genesis 24 verses 1 through 4, "And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, 'Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh; And I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of Heaven, and the God of Earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell. But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac.'"
Now clear, beyond any stutter, stammer, or apology, Eliezer had a cause. He had a mandate. Question: do you have a cause? I mean, do you, or are you just drawing your breath and drawing your salary, fighting to live and living to fight, and you don't have a cause through life? You're just enduring life. Have a cause in your life! You need goals in your life. And beware of vague goals. Most folks could not write down what they intend to do, what they want to do, what they feel God has called them to do. Rather than being a definite specific, they are sort of a wandering generality.
Tiger Woods is supposed to be a great golfer, is that right? I understand the greatest in the world. But I can beat Tiger Woods playing golf; if you let me set the conditions. All I'd do is just take Tiger Woods and I'll blindfold him, first of all. And then I'll turn him around about fifteen times and keep the blindfold on, and I can beat him. I can beat him because he wouldn't even know which way the pin is, you see. Now, I mean, the best golfer, if he's blindfolded and he can't see the goal, he's not going to make it. If he can't, if I can beat Tiger Woods when he can't see the goal, how are you even going to succeed if you don't even have a goal, much less one that you cannot see. You've got to have some goal in your life.
And it's got to be specific. If you don't have that, you're like a ship at sea on a dark night without a rudder, without a chart, and without a compass. Most people don't plan to fail; they just don't plan anything! Well, you say, "Sure, you're a pastor. You ought to have some goals". Mothers ought to have goals. Teachers ought to have goals. Students ought to have goals. Athletes ought to have goals. Medical doctors ought to have a goal in their life. And a church, in general, ought to have goals. Is your goal, your cause, specific enough you could put it on paper this morning?
Suppose I were to just pass out paper this morning, say, "All right, write it down". What are you all about? What motivates you? I mean, what are you trying to do? Number one: you must establish your cause. Beware of vague goals, and, even more, listen carefully, beware of unworthy goals. I mean, what is success? What is success? How many people have the wrong idea of success? Somebody said, "You know that you're important and successful if you're invited to the White House for a conference". Somebody said, "No, that's not success. You're successful if you're invited to the White House for a conference, and you're in the Oval Office, and that red phone rings, and the President is so interested talking to you, he doesn't even answer the red phone, the emergency phone".
Somebody said, "No, that's not success. Success is you're in the Oval Office. You're talking to the President. The red phone rings. He does pick it up, and he says, 'Here, it's for you!'" Now that, in the eyes of the world, is success, but not necessarily so. You can be important and not successful. You can be rich and not successful. You can be notorious and not successful. You can have power and not be successful. What is success? Listen very carefully. One definition of failure is succeeding in the wrong thing. That is failure: if you are succeeding in the wrong thing. A wise man has said, "Whatever a man does without God, in that thing he will do one of two things. Either he will fail miserably or succeed more miserably". Hmm. Are you listening? Failure is often success at the wrong thing.
Now I've said that you need to have a specific goal, but do you have a worthy goal? Really! Do you have a worthy goal? May I ask you to ask yourself some questions this morning? Is your goal, is your cause, is it God-given? Is it? I mean, does the thing that moves you, is it God-given? Number two: does it create in you enough motivation necessary for its fulfillment? It's not a worthy goal if it doesn't motivate you enough to fulfill it. Number three: does the cause that you serve demand of you your very best? Is there anything that demands of you every inch, every nerve, every ounce, every sinew, every corpuscle of your body to say, "This one thing I do"?
Number four: in the cause that you have can you pray and ask God to help you fulfill it? I mean, the thing that melts your butter, the thing that motivates you, the thing that drives you, can you honestly get on your knees and say, "Almighty God, in the name of Jesus, in the authority of Jesus, help me to do this thing". Beware, friend, of vague goals. Beware of unworthy goals. Many folks in this auditorium this morning are listening to radio station WIFM, What's In It For Me, rather than wanting to do the will of God. Beware, I say, beware of vague goals. Beware of unworthy goals. And listen, precious friend, be unware of unbalanced goals. You need to have goals for every area of your life, not just for one area. Not just physically, not just financially, not just domestically, not just spiritually. But your entire life needs to be a life of balance. That's why God gave you two legs.
There's an old story of the school college dean who came to the football coach and said, "Your star athlete, I want to tell you about him. Here's his report card. He's got four F's and a D. What do you have to say about that"? The coach said, "Well, looks to me like he's concentrating too much on one subject". Your goals need to be balanced. Now what we're saying is this: You have to establish a cause. There was no if's, and's, and but's about it, Eliezer knew what he was about. He knew what his cause was. Establish your cause. Now I said, goals for every area of life. I thought about this as I prepared this message. Let me tell you what I have, for example, goals or cause for the church. All right. I can give them to you in specificity.
Number one: That the church will have a godly pastor. Number two: That we will have a congregation that is totally committed to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Number three: That our congregation will be growing in Christ's likeness. Number four: That this congregation will learn to worship, and I mean truly worship so as to give God the glory. Number five: That our membership will discover, develop, and deploy their spiritual gifts and that all of you will be put to work for Jesus Christ. Number six: That our congregation will learn to care for the needy and the hurting, the weak, the forgotten, the lost, the last, the least, and we'll be a people of compassion. Next; that our congregation will disciple and discipline its membership. Next; that we will be a church that will strengthen the family. I'm telling you, if families are not restored, there is no future for America. And we'll put an emphasis upon the family. Next; that we'll be a congregation reaching out to evangelize those around us with a world-wide missionary vision. Next; that we will be a congregation that will work with and reach out to other congregations in sharing and in fellowship and in cooperation. That's what I want.
Now see, I could give you that. I could write that down. I could say, "That's what I want". Now that's just one area. But I could pray about those things. I could give you Scripture for those things. I could ask God to help me. And that moves me to my very being to see that those things are done. "Is there not a cause"? May I ask you some questions about what you're doing right now? I want to ask you three questions. If you get to where you're going, and everybody's going somewhere, if you get to where you're going, where will you be? You think about it. You're headed somewhere. Everybody is headed somewhere. If you get to where you are going; I'm not just talking about Heaven or Hell, I'm talking about what we call in this life; if you get to where you're headed, where will you be? Second question: if you accomplish your goals, what will you have? What will you have? And then, when you consider what you will have, here's the big question. Are the things you are living for worth Jesus dying for? When you get to where you're going, where will you be? When you achieve what you want to achieve, what will you have? And are the things you're living for worth Jesus Christ dying for?
Principle number one, therefore, is establish your cause. Number two, principle number two is this: examine your condition. Now, this is what Eliezer had to do. He knew what his cause was, and then he had to see where he was right now. Look, if you will, in Genesis 24 beginning in verse 5 through verse 8, "And the servant said unto him, 'Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me into this land: must I needs bring thy son unto the land from whence thou camest?'" In other words, "If Rebekah won't come back with me, will I take Isaac to Rebekah? Abraham said unto him, 'Beware that thou bring not my son thither again.'" "No, you can't take Isaac back to where I came from. You've got to bring Rebekah here".
"And the Lord God of Heaven, which took me from my father's house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that swear unto me, saying, 'Unto thy seed will I give this land;' and He shall send His angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence. And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear of this my oath; only bring not my son thither again," and so forth. I could read this more, but what is obvious is this: that Eliezer says, "Look, this is a problem. You're asking me to go to a land, meet a girl that I've never met, establish a relationship with her, convince her to come and marry a man she's never met, and to leave father, mother, houses, lands, brothers and sisters, and come with me. That is my job? That's, what I've got to do"?
Now, those were the conditions. Folks, you have to see where you are this morning; not where you want to be, not where you wish you were. Take an honest inventory and see where you are right now, this moment. If you were to call me on the phone, or maybe you're from out of the city and you were to call me on the phone and say, "Adrian". Maybe it's an old friend. "Adrian, we're in town. We want to come by and see you. How do we get to your house"? what is the first question I would ask them? Where are you now? Because I cannot give them direction to get to my house unless I can, first of all, help them to establish where they are right now. And you can't get to where you need to be until you understand where you are. That's very obvious. And we need to take an inventory of ourselves and to find out where we are.
Now, you, therefore, you need to diagnose your problems. Here was Eliezer. He had to find the right girl. He had to convince her. He had to convince her parents. He had to take care of all the details. And in your life, it's not just enough to establish your cause. You have to ask yourself, "What is standing between me and that cause? What are the obstacles? What are the roadblocks"? Now the roadblocks don't mean that God is not with you. Eliezer had difficulties. It didn't mean that God was not with him. In First Corinthians 16:9, Paul said, "There's an open door set before us, and there are many adversaries". And the door to the room of opportunity swings on the hinges of opposition. And really, problems are just opportunities in reverse, did you know that? If you're in business, and you say, "My business has problems," thank God your business has problems. You have a job.
You say, "My job has problems". Thank God your job has problems. If there were no problems, you wouldn't have a job, did you know that? Do you think people pay you for doing nothing? The greater the difficulty on your job and your corresponding ability to solve those difficulties and overcome those difficulties, that determines your worthwhileness to the organization. Listen, if your job didn't have any problems or had few problems, somebody with a lot less ability than you, and a lot less pay than you're getting, would do that job. It is your ability to meet and solve problems that constitutes your job. So quit griping about your problems! No. See where you are, look at yourself, and design a plan to meet those problems.
Eliezer saw his problems and then he got a plan, "And the servant took ten camels of the camels of his master, and departed; for all the goods of his master were in his hand: and he arose, and went to Mesopotamia, unto the city of Nahor," and so forth and so forth. He had a plan. He was going to find the right girl. Then he was going to get invited to her home. And then he was going to share the promises of God with her. Then he's going to pop the question. And then he's going to ask her parents for permission. And then he's going to bring her back to Isaac. Now there's nothing wrong with planning. Planning is not unspiritual. Planning is very spiritual. God planned my redemption before He made the world. I was in the heart and mind of God. And the Lord says in Luke 14 verse 28, "Which man, intending to build a tower, doesn't sit down first and count the cost"?
You make plans. I've already told you: to fail to plan is to plan to fail. This church makes plans. Do you think everything just happens around here, just happens? No. When you see something happen, I can tell you many times there are years and months of intensive planning, planning that is soaked in prayer, and then we see it happen because people learn to plan. And difficulties don't mean, again, that it can't be done. A man asked a girl, "How, how do I get to the county fair"? She was a beautiful girl. The man had a pig in one arm, a chicken in the other arm, and a basket. He was going to the fair. And the girl said, "Well, you go down here a mile and turn left and go another mile, you'll come to the county fair". He said, "Couldn't I just take a shortcut through the woods"? She said, "Well, yes, but you might get lost in the woods".
"Well," he said, "couldn't you go with me through the woods and guide me through those woods"? She said, "No, I couldn't do that". He said, "Why not"? "Well," she said, "you might get me out there in the middle of the woods and try to kiss me". He said, "Now listen. How could I do that? I've got this pig in one arm, a basket and a chicken. That'd be impossible". She said, "I don't think so". Said, "You could put the chicken on the ground and put that basket over that chicken, and I could hold that silly old pig"! Difficulty doesn't mean it can't be done. No. You have to see what your condition is and know again that the door to the room of opportunity swings on the hinges of opposition.
Number three: encourage your confidence. You know, many of us, we just think we can't do it. We don't think that God wants us to prosper. But encourage your confidence. Now how do you encourage your confidence? Number one: there's the promise factor. Get a promise from the Word of God. Look, if you will, in Genesis 24 beginning in about verse 5 on through verse 7, "And the servant said unto him, 'Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me into this land: must I needs bring thy son again into the land from whence thou camest?'"
Now notice this, "And Abraham said unto him, 'Beware that thou bring not my son thither again. The Lord God of Heaven, which took me from my father's house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and swear unto me, saying, 'Unto thy seed will I give this land;' He shall send His angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence.'" Do you know what he is saying? "Hey, this is based on the Word of God. We have got a promise from the Word of God". You want to encourage your confidence? Get in the Word of God. Read the Scriptures. Saturate your soul with the Scripture.
Listen to Joshua chapter 1 verse 8, "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written; for then shalt thou make thy way prosperous, and then shalt thou have good success". What we see right here is an illustration of that wonderful promise in Joshua 1 verse 8. And so we're talking about encouraging your confidence. And there's the promise factor. Wait before God until you get a promise, and let that promise somehow come out of the Word of God. And then not only is there the promise factor, but here's another way to encourage your confidence. There is the profit factor.
Now I said there're some people who are tuned to radio station WIFM, What's In It For Me. But there is a sense in which you need to ask what's in it for me, in the right sense. You need to ask yourself this question: where's the payoff? What is the bottom line? Why am I doing this? And real motivation comes from proper motives. And when your motives are right, then it's an amazing thing. You see, what was Eliezer's motive? Well, he said, what was his reward? What was the profit factor?
Well, number one: His master Abraham would be pleased. Number two: There would be a bride for Isaac. Number three: God would be glorified, and, therefore, Eliezer could have the joy. You see, we all serve for reward. It's not wrong to serve for reward if your reward is to hear Jesus say, "Well done, good and faithful servant," if your reward is for the glory of God. Listen, once you see what the profit is, what the payoff is, what the bottom line is, what really counts of a worthy goal, once you get that established, you determine the why and God will show you the how. I believe that with all of my heart. You determine the why. Why am I doing this; what is the promise factor? Do I have a basis in the Word of God? What is the profit factor; am I doing this for the glory of God? Bottom line: is my whole life built around bringing a bride to Jesus? I mean, is that why I am doing this? Is everything else contributing to this one thing?
There's the profit factor. And then, last of all, we're just talking about encouraging your confidence, there's the prayer factor. When you pray over what you want to do, then you're going to find out that you're encouraged as you pray. Notice, go down to Genesis 24 verse 12, "And he said," here, this is Eliezer and he's praying, "'O Lord God of my master, Abraham, I pray Thee, send me good speed.'" Translate that, "Send me prosperity". "Send me, O my God, success"! That's the reason that you've got to have worthy goals, a goal that you can pray over. And when you pray, the Spirit of God comes into you to encourage you, to motivate you, to drive you, and you're not doing it alone. And you and God are doing it together. And you can say with the Apostle Paul in Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through God who strengthens me".
Get those things together now. We're talking about encouraging your confidence. There's the promise factor. There's the profit factor. There is the prayer factor. And by the way, if you're not praying about your cause, do you know what it shows me? Either that you know that your cause is not God-given or that you're not really depending upon God for the fulfillment of it. You've got to have a desire when you pray. Mark 11 verse 24, Jesus said, "And I say unto you, 'What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.'" You'll encourage your confidence through prayer.
Now, number four: you must enforce your character. You're not going to drift into success, I can tell you that much. As you read this story, it's very, very obvious that this man was a man who enforced his character. What I mean is; he disciplined his life. He disciplined his decisions. Look in Genesis 24 verse 21, "And the man, wondering at her, held his peace, to wit whether the Lord had made his journey prosperous or not". He's looking at Rebekah. And I wish I could tell you the background for this, but this verse is sufficient right now. He's looking at her and he's saying, "I wonder is she the one"? He's not making a snap judgment now. He's wanting God to affirm this. Here's a man that's disciplined. He's not just getting on a horse and riding off in all directions. He disciplined his appetite.
Look, if you will, in Genesis 24 verse 33. In the midst of all of this, they're trying to get this servant to eat. "And there was set meat," food, "before him to eat; but he said, 'I will not eat, until I have told mine errand.'" There are times when we have to set aside food, television, ballgames, vacations, whatever! There's no cheap way! There's no easy way! There's no lazy way. He disciplined his appetite. He disciplined his time. Look if you will in Genesis 24 verse 56. That's what we read to begin with. They're trying to slow him down a little bit. "And he said unto them, 'Hinder me not, seeing the Lord hath prospered my way.'"
Don't waste your time. Boy, I'd get under conviction about this one. I've preached there's enough time in every day to do gracefully everything God wants us to do. Don't you dare insult God by saying you don't have enough time. Do you think God would tell you to do something and then not give you enough time to do it? There's enough time in every day to do gracefully everything that God wants you to do. And here this man, says, "Look. No, I'm not going to turn to the right hand. I'm not going to turn to the left, 'Hinder me not. The Lord hath prospered me in my way.'"
Don't waste, don't squander your time. Now all of this, I'm just simply saying, is that you have to enforce your character. There's no cheap way, no easy way, no lazy way. And so you have to ask yourself this question: where do you need to grow? Where do I need to grow, personally? You remember when we said examine your condition and looked at those obstacles? Part of that may be something in your character, some lack of discipline. Ask yourself where do I need to grow? A wise man has said, "When your professional life outpaces your personal life, you will have stress, and you will bring stress to other people".
Do you know what I'm convinced of? If I want this church to continue to grow, I must continue to grow. I must continue to grow. I can't pull over and park. Prosperity and success is not the best; it is my best. It is your best. And so, I need to enforce my character. And this means that I must pay the price. Look if you will in Genesis 24 verse 53, "And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah: he gave also to her brother and her mother precious things". Now, listen to this. Abraham said to Eliezer, "Look. I'm going to load you down with gifts". He took these camels laden with treasure and sent him off to do something. That is, he did not send him off to get the job done without equipping him and without giving him gifts.
Now when God the Father wants to use Adrian Rogers to bring a bride for the Lord Jesus Christ, do you think He told me to do that and didn't give me the time or didn't give me the giftedness to do that? No. He's given every one of us spiritual gifts, has He not? He's given me some. He's given you some. But God the Father has given us gifts. And these gifts are tools, not toys. What they're to be used for, everything that God has given us is to be used for the glory of God the Father, and we must be willing to release that. We must count the cost and pay the cost. There are a lot who are squandering the God-given gifts that they have and they're giving away so much and getting so little. We need to give all for the Lord Jesus Christ. Enforce your character. Last of all, enlist your comrades. Enlist your comrades.
Eliezer, when he went to get a bride, and I don't have time to even open the Scripture. I just suggest that you read Genesis 24 in about verse 49 and go on. Read the whole chapter. He knew that this was not a one-man show. He knew that in order to get this done, he had to get her father, her mother and her brothers to cooperate. He knew that he needed to get helpers to get the thing done. You can't do it by yourself. When people are prosperous, doing the things of God, do you know what God does? God makes us dependent one on another. That's the reason that we have a church. The eye can't say to the hand, "I have no need of thee". The ear can't say to the foot, "I have no need of thee". God puts us together. You find people who think they don't need one another, and I'm telling you, they will not succeed.
Ask yourself this question: am I a cooperative person? Have I learned to enlist others? Have I learned to depend upon others? Have I learned to delegate? Have I learned to cooperate? My heart almost jumps out of my throat as I look at this congregation and think what can be done if we would all do it together. A single snowflake isn't much, but you get enough of them together, they can stop traffic. I mean, that's together. God brings us together. Now that's the end of the message. Those are five principles of prosperity. They're found right from the Word of God. Just make certain that it's not fool's gold. Just make certain that it is real prosperity that you get.
Now the bottom line is this. Men are interested in the bottom line? In the Bible, in Luke chapter 12 verses 13 through 20, the Lord Jesus Christ told of a rich man. His barns were filled, the Dow Jones and NASDAQ, they were topping the record. And this man, Jesus said, he got in his hammock and got him a glass of lemonade and he built bigger barns to store everything. Now that, you realize this is the Adrian version. But he got in his hammock, and he stretched out, and a big smile went ear to ear, and he said, "Soul: eat, drink, and be merry"! "And God said unto him, 'Thou fool, thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?'"
That, my friend, was a successful fool. Remember what success is: the progressive realization of the will of God for your life. Failure is succeeding at the wrong thing. Soon, and very soon, soon, and very soon, I mean, soon, and very soon, sooner than you think, we're going to stand before God. And when you die, you're going to leave behind everything you have and you're going to take with you everything that you are. And then you'll find out whether or not you've been prosperous, do you agree with that? I hope you do.
Let's bow our heads in prayer. Heads are bowed and eyes are closed. And while heads are bowed and eyes are closed, let me tell you the first step is to give your heart to Jesus Christ. For Jesus said, "What should it profit a man if he should gain the whole world, and lose his own soul"? Or what should a man give in exchange for his soul? Would you pray a prayer like this:
Lord Jesus, I'm a sinner and I need to be saved. You died to save me, and You promised to save me if I would trust You. I do trust You, Lord Jesus. I believe You're the Son of God. I believe You paid for my sin with Your blood on the cross. I believe that God raised You from the dead. And now I receive You by faith now as my Lord and Savior. I turn from my sin to You, Lord Jesus. Save me by Your grace. I receive the gift of salvation. And from this moment on, I will live for You, not in order to be saved, but because I am saved. I will live for You, my Lord. And help me never to be ashamed of You. In Your name I pray. Amen.