A Believing Heart

A Believing Heart

It is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.

Romans 10:10

The Amish people in general do not believe that a person who has not been baptized is a true believer. During Rumspringa many youth worry about being killed and question where they will spend eternity. It’s often in the backs of their minds.

The following is a piece by John A. Hostetler titled “God Visits the Amish,” written in 1954.

Traditionally the Old Order Amish have not had revival meetings. The present spiritual awakening found in well over half of the fifty settlements in the United States, however, shows that there is exceptional hunger for new religious life. In Ohio last year, for example, [Evangelist David] Miller was booked up for thirteen days straight. He preached Sunday and weekends, in the morning, sometimes afternoon, and occasionally after an evening hymn sing—in brooder houses, in barns and on lawns.

There are dozens of other Amish preachers like Miller who are getting “new light.” They preach “biblical” messages stripped of the usual Amish singsong delivery and the old terminology. While this newer preaching has brought deep satisfaction to many who have been praying for release from the power of sin and overbearing traditions, it has also brought stress and worry to those leaders who hail it as eppes neues (something new).

Of course this “new thing” isn’t new at all. The gospel preached thousands of years ago is the same that applies to us today: “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).

The verse above tells us that only two things are required: believing and confessing faith in Jesus. Sometimes God brings someone into our lives to remind us of this truth. And sometimes He asks us to share this truth with others.

Dear heavenly Father, I thank You for Your gift of salvation. I believe, and I will continue to believe!