Serving God's Purposes in Our Generation (Acts 13:36b)

Onkar Singh | Two Desires In Me For Salvation And To Get Rich | UK Punjabi Christian

My name is Onkar Singh. I am married. I live with my wife and two children in the UK.

I would like to share with you today about how God brought me to the Lord Jesus Christ.

In my teenage years, I was on my journey to find salvation. There were two conflicting desires in me. The first one is that I wanted to achieve salvation. I use the word ‘achieve’ because it was my understanding at that time, that you need to work for your salvation. So, that’s why I was using the word ‘ achieve’. I wanted to ‘achieve’ salvation.

On the other hand, I also wanted to get rich.

Why is it that I wanted to achieve salvation? It was because I used to spend a lot of time with gurus and the so-called sadhus and they told me that the deepest need of a human being is salvation.
And even if one achieves everything in life like name, fame and wealth but fails to achieve salvation, his whole life is wasted. At that time, something within me said that I wanted to have salvation.

On the other hand, I wanted to be rich. It was because my father died early when I was 20 years old. He was just 39 years old. And because I was the oldest son in the family, the responsibility of taking care of my family rested on my shoulders.
We were in the UK, so my focus turned from achieving salvation to looking after my family. It took quite a few years to do that. And anytime someone died in our family, my focus will shift to achieving salvation.

I had a guru. I committed myself to that guru. He gave me a set of words that I should repeat in my mind. He said the more I do it, the better chance I will have to achieve salvation. So, I did it for 7 years.
I could see no change spiritually. There was no peace in my mind. I didn’t know where I would go when I die. So, I was afraid of death.

And then, somebody gave me a Bible in my own Punjabi language. I studied it for 3 years and asked many questions. I learned 3 things.

The first is that the Bible is the very word of God. That’s how it has been written. The word of the Lord comes to the prophet and he records it. This happens with one prophet to another and when it was compiled alongside the New Testament, it became the big book called the Bible. The words in the Bible are the very words of God.

The second thing which was more important for me is salvation. I learned that salvation is only through Jesus Christ, by the grace of God and we can receive it by faith from Him and be grateful. We cannot do anything to achieve salvation. It’s a free gift of God. This was new for me. I always believed that we need to do something to achieve salvation.

And then I prayed to God and told God that I don’t want to know anything about any religion and just want to come to you. I asked Him to show me the way to Him.

And soon after that, I saw a vision of me sleeping early in the morning. I saw a light coming from above and touched me on my forehead. Soon after that I started having moments of revelation. God will take you from where you are and what you know.

And I knew something about the Sikh scriptures. One particular verse kept coming to my heart. Its meaning became crystal clear. I will share with you of what happened.

This verse from Qurbani came to my mind. It means that God is the Truth in the beginning. He is the Truth now in the present. God will be the Truth in the future. Another Verse from the Bible came to my mind, where the Lord Jesus says “I am the Truth”.

So, God started showing me the way to Him. He started joining the dots.

The second thing I noticed is that the gurus were seeking God. They didn’t have forgiveness, they didn’t have the authority to forgive sins. But on the other hand, Mark chapter 2 explains that Jesus had the authority to forgive sins.

The third thing that I then learned is that gurus were men seeking God. But Jesus is God seeking men. And it helped me to move forward and receive salvation from the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s a free gift. I couldn’t earn it and I didn’t deserve it.

But by the grace of God, Jesus died for the sins of the whole world, including mine and its benefit comes to me only if I receive the free gift of God from the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is free for everyone. If you are searching for the truth and if you want to have salvation. Salvation is the forgiveness of God. God will forgive all your sins and accept you as His child.

So, when you receive the Lord Jesus and repent from your sins, salvation will be yours. That’s how I received my salvation.

I praise God that He opened my eyes to see the truth that salvation cannot be earned or deserved but it’s a free gift of God, free to everyone who will seek and take this gift from the Lord Jesus Christ.


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