Almost Persuaded or Fully Persuaded?  By James Lantz

     Almost persuaded is not persuaded. If you are thinking about going all out for the Kingdom of God, that is not the same as doing it. If you are getting ready, you are not ready. Our flesh will fight against our yielding to the will of our Heavenly Father because it wants control of our life. Rom. 8:5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit (spirit) the things of the Spirit (spirit). This verse is really referring to our recreated spirit that we became when we were born again by the power of God. Of course the Holy Spirit lives in us (our born again spirit) so when we follow our heart we are following the leading of the Holy Ghost. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Many people, including myself, made a commitment to Christ because they believed that Christ would deliver them from going to hell. I did not understand the magnitude of the grace of God and all the good things that Christ made available to the person who accepts him but I believed he would accept me and save me. When I came to Christ I had to learn to bring my fleshly desires into submission to the word of God (Jesus). Rom. 8:6 For to be carnally minded (ruled by our physical senses and human reasoning) is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Joy and peace are indicators that we are following the leading of God’s Spirit. Thank God for the gentle promptings, as well as the correcting and chastening of the the Holy Ghost. If we will pay attention to any loss of joy and peace and make the correction required we will be able to avoid His chastening. People who are accustomed to living for themselves and making every decision based on their personal comfort and financial or political gain have difficulty understanding the ways of the Holy Spirit. When Paul testified before Festus and King Agrippa about Jesus calling him to take the message of repentance and salvation to the people, conviction came on King Agrippa. Paul, realizing that the Holy Ghost was drawing King Agrippa to the truth, spoke to him. Acts 26:27 King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest.  Acts 26:28 Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. This is one of the saddest verses in the Bible. Enlightenment came by the anointed word and the working of the Holy Spirit, and yet King Agrippa decided not to yield to God’s chosen method of bringing eternal life to a person. 1 Cor. 1:21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. It is possible that King Agrippa changed his mind later and received eternal life but we do not have it recorded in the Bible. The time to yield to the Lord is when he is speaking to you, drawing you. Believing is a choice! Faith

is glad to respond to the good news!  Acts 2:40&41  …  Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. Faith is confident that God will do what he said! Heb.10:19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Faith comes to those who have a true and honest heart!  Heb.10:22   Let us draw  near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Holding on to your faith is a choice when pressures have mounted against you and the circumstances are saying you are not going to make it. Heb. 10:35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. Your faith is your confidence because when your confidence is gone your faith is gone. The Holy Spirit warns us that if we draw back, we will suffer loss. When the children of Israel refused to believe that God had given them the good land of Canaan they lost it. Heb.10:39 But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition (loss or destruction); but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. Faith, by its very nature, is more necessary when things are in the unseen realm. Believing what God said begins the process of that word coming to pass in our lives. Heb.11:1 Now faith is the substance (foundation) of things hoped (expected) for, the evidence (proof or conviction) of things not seen. By faith Able expected God to bless him abundantly beyond what his best sheep was worth. By faith Noah expected something better than all he sacrificed in building the ark. By faith Abram expected that God had something much better for him than staying in his homeland. By faith Moses received a far greater reward than the wealth and luxury of Egypt. Faith rejoices, gives thanks, and is glad!  Doubt despairs, complains, and is sad. Unbelief will cut you off from God’s goodness. Deut. 28:47&48  Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies … God would be unjust to require us to believe him if we did not have the means and ability to obtain faith. We understand that there is a supreme wise creator just by beholding creation itself. The magnitude of our solar system, the beauty of nature, and the  anatomy of our bodies with its sixty trillion plus cells proves that there is an Almighty God. Heb.11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. It should not be a strange thing that God, who is truth, should demand that we come to him in truth, recognizing him as the Almighty God. Our Heavenly Father doesn’t grade on the curve, when he says we must believe then believing is the only thing that He will accept. The almost persuaded person will fail to receive from God just like the person who has no desire for God and his blessings. Is there anything that you are struggling to believe? Are you struggling to believe that God would send his Son Jesus to die for your sins? Why would it seem strange that God could raise the dead? Indeed God has accepted Jesus sufferings in payment for our sins and with his resurrection has granted us the power to become sons of God. (See John 3:16 & 2 Cor. 5:21 & Ps.103 & I John 5:12&13)  John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. It should not be to difficult to believe that God is a good God if we will base our opinion on truth rather than the opinions of the ignorant (those who have never known God nor seen heaven or hell). Listen to the ones who have talked to Jesus face to face and seen him after he arose from the dead. Peter writes that he is an eye witness of the Lord and heard the voice of God on the mount.  2 Peter 1:19-21  We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that you take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Peter is also the one who proclaimed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Jesus said that Peter received that by revelation from the Father. Abraham and Sarah became fully persuaded and received the promised son. When Abram first heard from God he left his homeland (although he took his nephew with him). Gen.12:1 Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:   Abram began to follow God in search of the promise of God. This is kind of like us when we heard the truth of the gospel and left the kingdom of darkness and received a new life in Christ. You can read of Abraham’s struggles, going to Egypt in the time of famine, using a half truth about his wife being his sister instead of fully trusting God to protect him. We read of God’s blessing him with much livestock, silver, gold, servants, wisdom and victory in battle. We see that Abram had a relationship with God that was special.  Gen. 13:14&15  And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward; For all the land which thou seeest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. Some time later the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision saying, I am your shield and your exceeding great reward. The Lord also told Abram that he would have a son come forth from his own bowels and that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. Gen.15:6 And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

After dwelling in the land of Canaan for ten years Abram and Sarai still had no child. Sarai came up with this wild idea that she would give her maid (Hagar) to Abram so they could have children through her. Now this was not the Lord’s idea but a desperate attempt by a couple who was getting older and thought something had to be done now. Gen.16:2  And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened unto the voice of Sarai. That phrase, it may be, lets us know that Abram was not fully persuaded but just taking a shot in the dark so to speak. We know by reading the rest of the book and watching things in history that this was not God’s plan. Oh, but God is not going to quit on his friend Abram and he appeared to him when he was ninety nine and Sarai was ninety. God made a covenant with Abram and changed his name to Abraham which means father of nations. God changed Sarai’s name to Sarah and said his covenant would be with Isaac whom Sarah would bear at this set time next year. Do you see how God worked with Abraham and Sarah to bring them to the place of being fully persuaded. God will work with you, to help you into position where you can receive all He has provided for you! 

Some steps to get from almost persuaded to fully persuaded.

1. Repent by faith for the sin of unbelief and ask God to help you get fully persuaded. Understand that you do not    

    have to feel like you are repentant in order to repent (change)     1 John 1:9   2 Cor. 5:7   Rom. 14:23   Luke 8:15

2. Listen to the preached word of God!  Especially by those who are full of faith!   Be in church!  Heb. 10:25

    Rom. 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

    Pro. 4:20 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.

3. Take your eyes off of your problem and get your eyes on what God said!

    Num. 21:9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it on a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had 

    bitten any man, when he beheld (a steady gaze) the serpent of brass, he lived. The serpent on the pole was a type 

    of Jesus, who hung on the tree. They could not be looking at the snakes and the snake bites when they were looking 

    up at the bronze serpent and you can not receive your healing when you are focused on the sickness. Rom. 4:19 And 

    being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead… Abraham was considering what God said!

    Let the law of displacement remove every bit of doubt out of you as you fill yourself with the word of God!  Pro.4:20-25