Who am I?

Michael Ian Dacek; a follower and disciple of Jesus Christ, husband to my lovely wife, father of three beloved children, and whatever else the day calls for, because as is written in the Bible…
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13 (NKJV)

Why do I believe in Jesus Christ?

I didn’t believe for most of my life, and at times I doubted God’s existence. I hoped that I was wrong, and would pray whenever I faced enough trouble or was confronted by ugly reality. I’d actually attended church as a boy, but by my late teens I’d left church behind and didn’t think much about it. I lived according to my own desires and whims, falling deeper and deeper into darkness and sin.

But God was gracious and loved me, even when I didn’t know it and refused to listen. He worked through some difficult, life-or-death circumstances in my life to bring me to a point where I’d be receptive to the truth, his Truth.

I didn’t understand what was happening, but during my mid-thirties, something began to change in me. Looking back, I can see that becoming a father was part of it. I wanted to be different, I needed change in my life, and I started seeking after “spiritual truth” and enlightenment. I tried looking here and there in faith systems, religions, and even self-actualization, but found nothing that satisfied the longing in me until I relented and turned back to the Bible. I’d read it before, parts of it anyway, but this time I began noticing how it did seem to speak to me and my life. I was even starting to understand it more than I ever had.

It wasn’t long before I found myself again confronted by reality, as difficult circumstances brought me close to a point I knew was life-or-death. I had nowhere to turn, couldn’t just run away or talk my way out of things, so I had to… surrender. Facing my fears and mortality, I cried out to God and lifted up one absolutely desperate prayer from my heart.

And He answered. Immediately.

Suddenly EVERYTHING changed, a light came on in my heart, and I discovered that God had been waiting for me, heard him calling to me.

It wasn’t me that had sought God out, for to do so, I’d have to believe that he existed, and I’d never been sure. As is written in the Bible, “Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” How could I come to someone I didn’t believe existed?

It is also written in the Bible that Jesus explained, “no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me…”

I understand now that God was the one who first called to me, who first sought me out like a Shepherd seeking a lost sheep, because that’s what I was for most of my life. Lost and without hope of being found, as we all are without God.

Since that one day in December 2007, I have repented from my sins and living life in my own way, because I’ve come to believe, and accept, and KNOW, that God exists, and that he loves me, he created me, and that he sent Jesus to rescue me… from me. Because I really was lost in my sins, dead in my trespasses against God’s law and will; I was living in denial of the one who created me, rebelling against him and what I knew in my heart and conscience, in quiet times, to be right.

As it rightly says in the Bible about those who live in denial of God, “They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.”

I, too, had no excuse.

For my whole life, I’d never acknowledged God as the Creator, because I did not, and could not, given my state of mind and wretched heart, know him. But after God called me to himself, and changed my heart and gave me the faith to believe, I can’t now look at myself, at others, at the world, at the large and vast above, or the small, infinitesimal, and not see the handiwork of God. It only reinforces my faith to look, to really look at creation and see… and as it is written, “By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.”

What is faith? The book of Hebrews in the Bible states, “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” I have that conviction, and the assurance; I didn’t see Jesus, and yet I believed.

God has done this remarkable thing, for me, for you, for the world; he has given us a way to be reconciled with Him, to be at peace with him, to have rest and relief from the burden of sin and guilt in our lives, to be born again into the newness of true, abundant life… And that Way is through faith in Jesus Christ and accepting him as our Lord and Savior.

As Jesus explained, “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”

How can we “accept” Jesus and be “saved”, “born again” to a new, joyous life of peace with God beginning today?

You’ll find in the Bible, in Romans chapter 10, “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him. For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.””

Have you called on Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?