How Can I Get Saved?
This is the best part! And it is a surprisingly easy step to take—if you are willing to take it. The hard part is all that it took to get you ready and make you willing to be open to a moment like this…
There is only one Lord [Jesus], and he is generous to everyone who asks for his help. All who call out to the Lord will be saved. Romans 10:12-13
All scripture citations are from the English Standard Version (ESV) unless otherwise noted.
Put Doubts and Fears Aside
God has not made this hard for us! The only really difficult part is coming to the realization that we need God to save us. That usually means getting ourselves into terrible 
trouble or discovering what an undeniable moral failure we actually are. We may prolong the agony of self-discovery by thinking that we can fix our troubles (but we can't fix them all) and that we can fix our moral failures (but how can self fix self?).[1]
We may hold out to our very last spiritual breath thinking "all is lost," or "I just can't give in," but if we are ready to reach out to God, the rest is easy. Jesus did the really hard part on the cross when He took the punishment our sins deserved. His "work" of dying for our sins is actually what gets us saved.[2] God wants this more than you do! So, put your doubts and fears aside as well as you can, and let’s go forward. The Lord knows how to meet you along the way. Just allow yourself to follow these simple steps, study the scriptures, and say the prayers:
Steps to Salvation
How can I get saved? Follow these steps!
Step 1
Admit you need God. Have you realized that your life is not working out—that it is going in the wrong direction? Have you realized that you cannot “fix” you and that no one else and nothing else can either? Good! Then what you have been going through has been teaching you a life-saving lesson! Now, you are ready to begin your true life.[3]
Step 2
Turn to God. This means turning all the way around: Away from your wrong ways and towards God and His ways. You have been showing Him your back; it’s time to show Him your face and to start seeking to look in His face.[4]
Step 3
Confess to God. This is telling the truth to God, hiding nothing. The problem isn’t other people, or the world God made, or God and His ways. It’s you and your ways! Let Him know how you have lived for yourself and not for Him. Be honest with Him about how that has hurt others and yourself. Then “confess” your need for His mercy and help.[5]
Step 4
Believe in God. By an act of your will choose to believe that God really does love you, forgives you, and wants to save you through what Jesus has done for you at the cross. Now ask Jesus to come into your heart, into your life, and to live His life in you. He is certain to do it! Be sure to say the prayers at the end of this article.
There Is So Much More
Now that you have prayed to be saved, you are! You may be feeling Christ’s peace, fresh confidence, or a sense of hope restored. You may have received a vision, felt His love, or were touched by His presence. Or He may be asking you to simply take it on faith and just rest in that. The experience is different for everyone. The common element that dawns inside all of us is a faith-knowing, summed up in the phrase, "I know that I know that Jesus is alive!" and the willingness to declare that He is Lord.
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9
You will certainly want to "nail this down" by going to "How can I be sure I'm saved?" There is actually so much that has just taken place that it really needs a whole chapter to describe the birth that you have undergone (“What is the new birth?”) and another to describe the life that you have now entered (“What are my first steps?’). Please keep reading!
Prayers
Father, please forgive me for all the ways in which I have lived for myself, hurt others, and turned my back on You. I confess and repent of all these sins. Thank You for loving me and making a way for my sins to be forgiven through Jesus.
Jesus, please come into my heart, into my life, and live Your life in me. I surrender myself to You, body, soul, and spirit. Grant me an assurance of my eventual entry into heaven won for me by Your death and resurrection. Help me by Your Word and Holy Spirit to trust and follow You step by step into the new life here on earth that You have also promised can be mine.
Holy Spirit, please come and heal my broken heart of all the hurt that my own sins and those of others have caused. Show me and tell me Your truth in ways that I can receive and understand. Help me fight to remain loyal to the One who laid down His life for me by laying down my “old life” and my wrong ways for Him!
Did you just pray to be saved? Congratulations! Email us with the good news:
On to the Next Question!
What is the new birth? If you have prayed to be saved, you will definitely want to find out what just happened to you. Maybe you feel like you are floating on air. That’s great, but be sure to come back down to earth eventually and load up on some deeper understandings.
Free Downloads
pdf How Can I Get to Heaven? (26-page eBook) (438 KB)
pdf How Can I Get Saved? (this article) (171 KB)
Endnotes
[1] Paul summarizes the human predicament with brutal honesty: For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot perform it. [I have the intention and urge to do what is right, but no power to carry it out.] For I fail to practice the good deeds I desire to do, but the evil deeds that I do not desire to do are what I am [ever] doing. Romans 7:18-19 AMP
[2] Then, he answers his own heart cry and ours in asking "How can I be saved?": O unhappy and pitiable and wretched man that I am! Who will release and deliver me from [the shackles of] this body of death? O thank God! [He will!] through Jesus Christ (the Anointed One) our Lord! Romans 7:24-25 AMP
[3] Jesus is adamant that we cannot live without Him: “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” John 15:4
[4] Through Isaiah the Lord insists we turn to Him as the only way to be saved: "Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.” Isaiah 45:22. Such repentance is not optional—not if we fear perishing: "No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." Luke 13:5
[5] Hear the tender mercy of God making His appeal: “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” Isaiah 1:18. King David appealed to the Lord for mercy after murdering Uriah: Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Psalm 51:1