That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Romans 10:9

Last night, Armin received the Lord, he prayed with Seo, Annabelle and Jennifer after the meeting at Light House. This is what happened (as far as I know):

After the small groups at Light House, Armin had questions to ask Seo. They sat together and huddled with their bibles open. Seo told Armin that he can pray to receive the Lord whenever he was ready, and that he can do it at his own time. Armin then answered, “I want to do it with Annabelle.”

Annabelle happened to be upstairs in Jennifer’s apartment, so they both headed up there and knocked on the door. At first, Jennifer and Annabelle ignored the knock, since they were busy talking about something important, but then Seo said through the door, “Armin is ready to receive the Lord, he wants to talk to Annabelle!”

Hearing this, Annabelle scrambled and said, “Quick! Get the tissues ready! I’m going to cry for sure!” not knowing that Armin was there with Seo.

Jennifer then let them in and they sat together in her living room. They each prayed the prayer, with Armin repeating it at the end. Afterwards, they all hugged and shook hands, and Armin went downstairs to the basement to announce it to everyone.

This happened when nearly everyone had gone, I remember Armin coming through the doors with Seo behind him looking like he had something important to say. He was smiling when he announced, “Guys, I have something to say! Tonight I prayed and received the Lord.” (This is the short version of his announcement, he said more but I was too busy being happy to remember the rest.)

Then everyone went up to him, and awkwardly shook hands. I wanted to hug Armin but I thought it might be a weird thing to do in front of everyone, but when someone else hugged him first, I hugged him right after.

There are several fundamentals to the Christian faith, one of which includes what the verse from Romans says: to confess with your heart, when you are ready, that Jesus is Lord and that he has been raised by God from the dead, for your sins.

This is what we refer to when we say ‘born again.’ It is like a spiritual rebirth when you accept Christ into your life as your savior.

For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living and enduring word of God.

1 Peter 1:13

Being born again is when you receive the eternal life from God, and to be forgiven of your sins. It is the beginning of your personal relationship with God. By being ‘saved’ through rebirth you become a child of God. This can only be done through Jesus Christ who paid the penalty for our sins when he died on the cross.

There really isn’t any fancy way of doing this, no big ceremony where you have to do this in front of some high priest, who would act like a judge to confirm your salvation. No one has to see and know, you can do this in the quiet in your own bedroom. It is something personal that happens inwardly between you and God.

When I got saved, I was 12 and I prayed with sister Frieda, Vincent’s mom (some of you may know Vincent, he’s my ‘fake cousin’ because we’re related by marriage). I simply repeated the prayer she said, which I don’t remember now since everyone says a different prayer when they receive the Lord. The main key point in the prayer is that Jesus Christ took the punishment for our sins and that we confess that He is Lord. That night, before going to sleep, I prayed once more on my own in private, without anyone looking.

Anyway, this is very exciting news! I'm happy that I get to share this with everyone who reads this blog, although I must confess that it is taking me a lot of guts to share my experiences and love for God like this.