The Power of Being Saved - Euphoria Part 1

Since I started this blog, I've been getting emails from all kinds of people that have read it. Some are Christians, some are not and some are just confused. I've been asked a lot of questions and I reply to everyone the same way, I am no theologian by any means, I use Bible Gateway just as much as the next guy and I'm just trying to share my experiences. I'd love to give you advice, but if I'm not sure of the answers, I just can't give them to you. A few of these email conversations have started to grow into some nice (online) friendships, though, and for that I am very grateful.

One young lady I have been talking to has been sharing her experiences of being "saved". Notice, I say experiences. Plural. When we were sharing our testimonies (which I absolutely love and and going to write more about soon), she explained to me that she has been saved many, many times. About 75 or so, she thinks. Here is an excerpt from her email (with permission, of course)...

The first time I was saved was in October 2006. I was invited to a performance of Heavens Gate, Hells Flames and it really touched me. I knew about halfway through the show that I wanted my name in the book of life and I wanted to spend eternity in heaven. We were in a mega church in Texas and when the preacher did the alter call, there was at least 300 people that went up front. As I was saying the prayer, I felt something possess me and I started crying and shaking. By the time we were done and I had been prayed over by so many people, I had experienced something so profound I knew I would never feel that way every again. My life had been changed.

It was euphoric.

This is a great testimony and I was really touched and had to stop reading for a moment. You see, I came to Jesus following a performance of Heaven's Gates and Hell's Flames too. Then, I realized the first line from her email, The first time I was saved was in October 2006. The first time? Ok, so I know that many people rededicate themselves after going through a rough patch, that is also part of my own testimony, but I've never referred to it as THE FIRST TIME. I always say that I was saved at this time and that I rededicated myself at this time. Anyway, curious, I kept reading...

Well, my Christian dance wasn't going so well there were a lot of missteps so when someone invited me to a revival about 6 months later I jumped at the chance. I knew I needed to be filled with the spirit and I figured that this would be just the place to get me back on track. It was amazing, everytime a person broke down and gave themselves over, the entire croud, about 8000 people just started cheering and praising. The person would just look around the room with this goofy smile and glazed eyes. I wanted to be that person.After an intensive 6 hours, I gave myself to Jesus again. It was just like the first time, uncontrolled sobbing, my body was shaking, my knees gave out and I fell to the floor. I couldn't see straight, I couldn't think, it was much like the hallucogenic drugs I had done in my past life. Throughly undescribeable.

After that, I found myself travelling to revivals, Christian concerts, youth camps anything I could to be in a place where I could be filled with the spirit. I wish it was possible to experience the same rush at home, it would be far less expensive and more fulfilling I imagine. But so far, I feel that Jesus only personally touches me when I am in a large experiencing something so powerful. I'm sure he is touching my life every other day as well but not in such a commanding way. I've lost count at this point, but I figure I've been saved about 75 times. 75 times of that euphoric, gleeful, jubilant, energizing, intoxicating state. And I can't wait for the next one.

Now, I have to tell you, my friends, that I didn't believe this was real at first. I had spoken (or rather, emailed) back and forth with this young lady about 6 times before this. She had a lot of questions and seemed fairly sincere in her faith, if a little naive. So when I got this email I though it was a joke but since talking to her since then, including once on the phone, I've deciphered that it is the very real ramblings of one confused young woman.

Well, I'm not here to judge, that job has been given to someone else, but like everyone else on Earth, I do have opinions. So here is my take:

I agree that there is some state of euphoria to being saved. Certainly, ever person's experience is different but I do remember feeling so alive when I first came to Jesus. But that feeling was quickly replaced with another emotion, humility. It literally only took moments for me to be humbled by the reality of what Jesus Christ did for every one of us, that He gave His life. I was also humbled at the knowledge of the promise that I had just made... to be Christ-like in every way possible. Those are some pretty big shoes to fill, after all!

I also understand the desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit. What a great gift for God to give you, a piece of Himself just simply because you choose and work to honour Him. But, Madame E-Mailer, I and many other Christians across the Earth, are filled with the Spirit every day of our lives, even when we are outside of a church, or a revival meeting. And I tell you, you think the Spirit being alive within a group of people is amazing, just wait until it hits you when you are alone. That one-on-one connectedness to God Himself is... absolutely indescribable. There will just never be enough words to explain.

So, I've done some research and apparently the addiction to the euphoria of "being saved" is a rather common one. There are groups of people who travel across countries together just to get to the next place where they will meet their rush and be "saved". Since this is my blog and I can express my opinion here, I'll say this: To me, this sounds like the guy coursing the streets looking for his dealer so he can get his next hit to get high. It doesn't last long and soon he's at it again.

I was raised on the school of thought that you only can be "saved" once. And that when you make mistakes, even if you make a lot of them, as long as you are truly repentant, the Lord God will forgive you because you have already committed yourself to Him. Some people "rededicate" themselves, as I did, after a rough patch or number of years away from the church, but it's not about being saved again, because that's already happened, it's about reminding yourself that you are God's child and that you have made a commitment to serve Him.

So what have I advised this young woman do? I told her she needs to talk to her pastor at her home church. Then I told her she needs to find herself a home church since all she has done for 2 1/2 years is travel the country, never visiting the same church twice. But most importantly, I told her she needs to talk to God. I truly feel that she is being touched by God, perhaps even each and every time she is "saved", but she is also being pulled by the enemy. I think she wants to know God, she just doesn't know how. And since she has no family and no home church background, she has absolutely no support. So I told her to talk to God. To spend time alone with Him, to just pour her heart out to Him. And when the Lord feels that her heart sincerely wants a relationship with Him, He will build a network of support around her. Then, He will fill her with the Holy Spirit. The real Holy Spirit, not just the rush of being in a crowd of people. And when He does, she will never again feel the need for anything else in her life, because she will be filled with everything she needs.



So readers, tell me what you think. Have you ever known anyone addicted to being "saved"? Did you feel euphoric when you gave your life to Christ? And what would you have said to this young woman if you had been in my place?


*Note* I know that there are many spelling and grammar mistakes contained within this blog, in trying to keep the spirit of this email true, I copied it directly from the email with no changes to it at all.

My next step...

Every once in while, I imagine, a blogger or writer comes to a topic about which they just can't cover in one article or book.

Over the past two weeks, I have found myself in a number of situations that have revolved around one topic and I am feeling the Spirit pushing me to write about it. So, for the first time, I am going to do a series of blogs on Euphoria. I don't know if there will be two articles or ten, so bear with me while I travel along this new path of "installment blogging."

Please pray with and for me that I am able to convey this message the way the Spirit wants me to.

I expect the first edition will be out sometime tomorrow.

God Bless!
Melissa

I Love You, so I'm not gonna lie to you...

One of the most difficult questions I ever get asked when I am witnessing to someone is, "But surely, you don't think I am going to hell?"

How do you respond? As a human being, trained to be politically correct and sensitive to other people's feeling, we want to beat around the bush, we want to spare the person from the harshness of reality and perhaps most of all, we still want the person to like us after the conversation is over. As a Christian, we want to scream, "YES! Please, please come to know Jesus before it is too late!" So where do you draw the line between being human and being Christian?

I remember a number of years ago, sharing the gospel with my sisters. My mom got pretty upset when I told them that you had to be 'saved' and let Jesus into your life before you would gain a ticket to Heaven. My family believes in God, sure, but they don't really think that you have to do anything other than believing that He exists in order to gain entrance to Heaven. I tried to explain this to my mom and she asked me the dreaded question, "Soooo, you think I am going to hell, then?" Well, back then I was pretty immature in my faith and I didn't know how to answer her, especially without upsetting her and hurting our relationship. I just KNEW that I was right.

Well, these days I'm a little smarter and I understand a lot more about what I believe. It's been on my mind a lot lately, and I want to revisit the issue. And I know what I going to say.

I love you Mom, and I want nothing but the best for you. I don't want to hurt you and I don't want to see you hurting, but this may sting for a short time. You remember all those times you grounded me and said, "I'm doing this because I love you"? Well Mom, I'm doing this because I love you. It's really not all that hard to get into Heaven. You see, Jesus came to the Earth to save us all, because His Father wants each and every one of us to spend eternity with Him. He does have some rules for us to follow but He also gave us this really great instruction manual on how to live our lives. Parents always say they wish kids came with instruction manuals... well, there is one, it's called the Bible and it has the answer to every single question you will ever have. A lot of people think that if you just follow these rules (and sometimes rather loosely) and lead a "pretty good" life you'll get into Heaven. And while I told you it's not hard to get into Heaven, it is a little harder than that. You see, God needs to know who's really dedicated to living their life with the goal of Heaven with Him in mind. So, just like a cellphone carrier, he wants you to sign a contract. He wants people to admit, out loud, that they want to live their life for Him, through His Son, Jesus Christ, and that they want to spend eternity in Heaven with Him. It's kind of like housework, if I just say to myself in my head that I want to get the floor washed, it may not get done, but if I've told my husband that I am going to wash the floor, all of a sudden I have someone to answer to so it's more likely to get done.

So after you've told God how much you want to live your life for Him, you just do it. It's not always going to be easy. You'll face adversity and temptation but if you keep in constant touch with the Father, he'll always help guide you out of any mess you're in. You'll still make mistakes, the only sinless human was Jesus, but when you do, you'll recognize it, you'll repent and it'll be over. The greatest thing about God? He doesn't hold a grudge. If you apologize and you're sincere, He forgives you, just like that.

So you see Mom , it's really not that difficult. You tell God that you want to live for Him, that you believe that Jesus died so we can live and you live your life for God. In return, you get an eternity in Heaven and the most forgiving, understanding, faithful, loving Father imaginable. And the best part of all is that you and I will never be separated, even in death, because we will be able to spend eternity together in Heaven.

Now this time, I'm not so worried about hurting my mom. It's more important for me to see her living her life for Him and getting to the ultimate reward, than it is for our relationship here on Earth to be perfect. I pray that the Holy Spirit will be upon her, that her eyes will be opened and that I will get the opportunity to see my mom, sitting in Heaven beside Jesus. My Saviour and my best friend, together for eternity.



Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.
2 Corinthians 5:1