Salvation Summaries

Over the past few years, I’ve had a few dozen “coincidences” that I would describe as either blessings or answers to prayer, and I thought I’d quickly share one with you.  I believe that we Christians should do this as part of our fellowship with others, for answers to prayer can encourage and lift up the “body” of believers.

Interestingly, my blessings/answers have usually come shortly after (within a day or two of) praying a certain prayer, which is, “Lord, reveal yourself to me (today) in a way that I can understand.”  Also, they have recently come almost exclusively from listening to Christian radio.

Example

For context, in recent days, I’ve been studying the account of the two thieves on crosses next to Jesus.  From reading through the accounts in all four gospels, I realized that one thief became saved, and the other did not. I also realized that repentance was an important part of the converted thief’s conversion.

This morning on my early morning run, I prayed my typical prayer of “Lord, reveal yourself to me in a way that I can understand,” and I added a request that He do this for each member of my family too.

After eating lunch at a downtown Colorado Springs restaurant (Colorado Craft) with a former neighbor of ours, I was driving home and listening to a message by Pastor Jeffress.  I’ve heard Pastor Jeffress speak on the radio periodically, though he’s not someone I typically seek to listen to (my preferred speakers are Charles Stanley, John McArthur and Tony Evans).

On this particular day, Pastor Jeffress was talking about heaven and hell, which generally related to what I’ve been studying, since Jesus and two thieves were near death, and one would be going to hell with the other two to heaven.  However, in his message, he specifically mentioned the account of Jesus crucifixion with the two thieves, and even quoted what Jesus had told one thief (“Today, you will be with Me in Paradise”).  This, of course, is exactly what I have been studying so the odds of me hearing this particular message, at this particular time of day, and following the morning prayer where I requested that He would reveal Himself to me, are quite low, would you not agree?

Further, in his message, he talked about Lazarus and the rich man, where one went to heaven (Abraham’s bosom) and the other hell (Hades), and this also related to my study in three ways.

First, there is the contrast of one going to heaven (Lazarus) and the other hell (rich man), just as there is with the two thieves.

Second, in the story of Lazarus and the rich man, the rich man wanted the resurrected Lazarus to go back and warn his five brothers about their similar fate if they didn’t do what?  Repent.  As I mentioned above, I learned that repentance was a key part of why/how the one thief became saved.

And last, we know that Lazarus was saved based upon his faith or belief in (and thus fear of) God and his repentance.  The converted thief’s salvation also included a fear of God and repentance (plus he knew that Jesus was the Christ, Son of God and a King who would soon be going to His own Kingdom).

Summary

I believe that what I heard on Christian radio today was an answer to prayer for God to reveal Himself to me in a way that I can understand.  He helped me search and find a Christian radio station with a pastor’s message that not only related exactly to what I have been studying in recent days, but also helped me better understand it (which is really a second answer to prayer, for I’ve prayed for wisdom to understand what I’ve been reading so that I could share some interesting insights about salvation with others).  This “coincidence” was an encouragement to me and I look forward to experiencing many more.  I hope it was an encouragement to you too!