Many things can make us afraid in our lives. We can be afraid at night and think that someone may break into our homes; we may be afraid when our children do not come home when we thought they would; we may be afraid to get the results from a doctor; or we may be afraid of getting some kind of disease that our parents had.
But are you afraid to know the truth? What happens if you find out that it is true: Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the world and HE died for your sins, and if you believe in Him as your Lord and Saviour you will go to heaven.
The Bible says:
“Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place.
I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.” – 1 Corinthians 15
The Bible also says:
“He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God.”
Jesus Himself said:
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”
It’s like a person dying of thirst, someone who is so thirsty, and they finally find some water. But the water is over a part of the desert where there are many scorpions, snakes, and quicksand. So fear can grip the person and they have to make a decision: do I crawl across the desert to get to the water or do I just lie here and die.
Jesus said that if you do not believe in Him as Lord and Saviour you will die in your sins.
Jesus said:
“You are from below; I am from above. You belong to this world; I do not. That is why I said that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am who I claim to be, you will die in your sins.”
“Who are you?” they demanded.
Jesus replied, “The one I have always claimed to be. I have much to say about you and much to condemn, but I won’t. For I say only what I have heard from the one who sent me, and he is completely truthful.” But they still didn’t understand that he was talking about his Father.
So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man on the cross, then you will understand that I am he. I do nothing on my own but say only what the Father taught me. And the one who sent me is with me—he has not deserted me. For I always do what pleases him.” Then many who heard him say these things believed in him.
Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” – John chapter 8
So you have a decision to make: will you put your faith in Jesus Christ and receive eternal life, along with all the trouble and persecution that will come your way, or do you reject Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour and die in your sins.
Don’t let fear stop you
Yes, following Jesus Christ and being known as a Christian will cause you some difficulties in your life, especially if you are a Somali. Jesus Christ promises and gives those who believein in Him as Lord and Saviour peace and joy. Jesus gives eternal life to those who put their faith in Him; Jesus gives peace to the soul as He brings us into a relationship to God as our Father. We have eternal life through Jesus Christ because Jesus died on the cross for our sins. But there is a price to pay.
“A large crowd was following Jesus. He turned around and said to them, “If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.
“But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. They would say, ‘There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it!’
“Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down with his counselors to discuss whether his army of 10,000 could defeat the 20,000 soldiers marching against him? And if he can’t, he will send a delegation to discuss terms of peace while the enemy is still far away. So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own.” – Luke 14:25-34
In order to receive the heavenly, you have to give up the earthly. In order to receive an eternal life in heaven, you need to give up your temporary life here on earth. You need to consider yourself dead to the things of this world and this earth, so that you can embrace and take hold of the eternal life.
God will make a way
There was an old man who was a part of the religious priests during the time of Jesus. The religious order did not accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Messiah, but this one man believed that Jesus was the Lord and Saviour of the world. His name was Nicodemus; and God made a way for Nicodemus to talk to Jesus in a secret way so that Nicodemus could learn more about Jesus. And God will help you too to learn more about His Son Jesus Christ because God loves you and God desires all men to be saved.
Let us listen and learn about how God opened up a way for Nicodemus to learn from Jesus:
“There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
“What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
“How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.
Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony. But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
“There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.” – John chapter 3
Isn’t that amazing? Nicodemus met secretly with Jesus and started to believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah.
God will open a door for you
So whether you are learning about God over short wave radio, or whether you are listening and reading messages online; or maybe you have a Bible or other Christian material hidden somewhere that you can read secretly; or maybe you use your mobile phone to learn about Jesus; or maybe you are meeting secretly with a Christian friend who is teaching you more and more about Jesus – it doesn’t matter where and how but God will give you a way to learn more and more about Him because God wants you to put your faith in Jesus Christ for the salvation of your soul.
Accept Jesus Christ now
If you want to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour then you can pray this prayer with me right now:
“Lord Jesus Christ…I ask you to come into my heart right now. I want to know you and I want to be saved and go to heaven. Will you please forgive me of all the sins I have ever committed and give me peace in my heart and my soul. I want to serve God and live a clean and holy life but I know that I have not been doing that and I feel like I am going to hell. I don’t want to go to hell and I don’t want to live a life that is not pleasing to you. I want to serve you and be your servant. Please come into my life and forgive me of my sins and teach me how to walk in the right way.”
Amen.