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"For God so loved the worldthat he gave his only begotten Son,in order that everyone who is having faith in himshould not perishbut have eternal life." -- John 3.16
In order to be saved and forgiven of our sins, find the purpose for life and true hope, we need to turn from trying to save ourselves and trust in Jesus Christ to save us.
For by grace you are saved through faith. And this is not out of you. It is a gift of God. Not out of works, in order that someone should not boast. -- Ephesians 2.8-9
Saved
Each of us has sinned and done wrong. And no matter how good we may try to live, we all fall short of the glory and perfection of God. Not one of us is righteous, that is, no one has a right relationship with God and does right all the time. Therefore we are separated from God now and will be forever in hell and eventually the lake of fire. We need to be saved. (Romans 3.10; 3.23; 6.23; 2 Thessalonians 1.9; Revelation 20.11-15)
Trying to save our selves and to get to God on our own is  like standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon and having to jump to the other side in order to escape some natural disaster. Some of us might jump out farther than others, but we all would fall far short of the other side.
Grace
Grace is gift. God loves us all so much that he gave his Son, Jesus Christ, for us. The Lord Jesus left heaven, came to earth as one of us, and lived a life without sin. He then went to the cross and laid down his life to pay the price for our sins. Three days later he was raised from the dead and then ascended back to heaven. God offers us the gift of his Son and what he has done for us so that we might have a relationship with him and be with him one day forever in heaven. (Romans 6.23; 5.8; 1 Corinthians 15.3-4; Isaiah 53.6)
Imagine that one hand with palm turned upward represents us and it is holding a book which contains a record of all our sins, everything we have ever thought or done that was wrong. We bear our sin and thus we are separated from God. Now picture the other hand with an empty palm turned upward as portraying Jesus Christ who bears no sin of his own. Now as he hung on the cross,  see the book of our sin being taken from the hand that is us and being placed upon the hand that is Christ Jesus. In this way, Christ bore our sin so that we might be free and forgiven and have eternal life with God.
Faith
Now we must reach out with our heart in faith and accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. This is more than a mental acknowledgement about the Lord Jesus. We must accept Jesus with our heart through faith, putting our complete trust in him to save us. (John 6.47; Romans 10.9-10, 13)
 When a gift is offered, in order to posses that gift one must reach out and take it. Then it belongs to the person. We reach out and accept Jesus Christ with our heart through faith.
Prayer: "Dear God, thank you for loving me. But I know that I am a sinnerand am separated from you. But I believe with all my heartthat you gave your sinless Son, Jesus Christ,to die for me and to pay for my sins,and then raised him from the deadto give me eternal life with you. Dear Jesus,come into my heart right now. Save me, give me purpose for living, and one day take me to be with you forever in heaven. Thank you, Lord. Amen."
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