My friends, as I neared the end of the Transforming the Mind series, Abba downloaded a new one about salvation. Honestly, I never expected to write about this subject, but obviously He wants us to understand more about what His salvation is, because it truly is His and comes from Him alone (Psalm 51:12).

Did you know we are wired for salvation? That is Abba’s heart for us and why He sent His Son Jesus to die for us. All of us.

And if we look at the Bible as a whole (the sum of all its parts) the message is consistent throughout that God’s intent was always to have a relationship with His creation, specifically us.

Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. — Ecclesiastes 3:11

A few years ago, Abba gave me this verse to pray over my husband. As I reflect back, I think it was as much for my benefit as for his, because the truth of this Scripture has stuck with me ever since.

There is a promise there of God’s goodness and intent toward His creation.

God places eternity in every human heart. We were created to be in relationship with God and with Him in eternity. Me. You. And our pre-believers.

How do we get saved?
We don’t actually. This question implies that we have control or power over this process. But Paul clearly states that salvation is a gift:

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. — Ephesians 2:8-9

Our only action is to repent and receive it. So if we understand this truth within the parameters of our own lives, let’s apply this to the pre-believers in our lives.

No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. — John 6:44   And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father. — John 6:65

I will never forget the day the truth in these Scriptures hit me. My whole world shifted. Suddenly I understood that my husband’s salvation didn’t rest upon my shoulders. That misconception only added the burden of getting it right, which inevitably lead to feeling like a failure as each day passed without seeing a change in my husband.

It wasn’t my yoke to carry.

This was the beginning of my freedom to love my pre-believer just as he was and to grow in my faith as I learned how to thrive in my marriage while I trusted (and still do) God to work out my husband’s salvation according to His beautiful timing. The irony here is as we make this transition, our lives become the greater testimony to our pre-believers of Who Jesus is than our words. Our actions hold the higher truth.

What’s our role as intercessor/influencer?
Does that mean we can sit back and do nothing? By no means, no! Our faith plays an integral part in this process. God seems to prefer to partner with His children to accomplish His purposes. Not because He has to, but because He chooses to.

Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. — 2 Corinthians 5 18-19

Our faith and prayers sanctify our pre-believers and our children—all who we claim by our faith and prayers.

For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy. — 1 Corinthians 7:14

(For more on sanctification, read this.)

And as we intercede with our prayers for all the pre-believers in our lives, we are given the promise that Jesus intercedes for them and SAVES those who come to God through Him. Just as Jesus contended for each of us to know Him, He intercedes and contends for our pre-believers.

Because of this oath, Jesus is the one who guarantees this better covenant with God. There were many priests under the old system, for death prevented them from remaining in office. But because Jesus lives forever, his priesthood lasts forever. Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf. He is the kind of high priest we need because he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin. He has been set apart from sinners and has been given the highest place of honor in heaven. — Hebrews 7:22-26

And He lives forever to intercede! Our King Jesus works tirelessly to intercede with the Father on the behalf of our pre-believers. We do not walk this mismatched journey alone in any way. As we embrace these truths—which I am desperate for you to, my dear friends—we are able to thrive in our faith and in God’s love in the middle of whatever situation we find ourselves in.

Praying that God's promises come alive for you like never before!
Dineen

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