– that means to acknowledge your sins and to turn away from them in order to a life with Jesus Christ

You may pray out load a prayer to Jesus and from your HEART mean what you say. It could be like this:

Jesus… I want to turn from my old way of living and believe in you.
Please forgive me everything I did wrong. Please forgive the times I have taken your holy name in vain. Jesus, I present to you all the people that have harmed me in any way – I forgive them in your name! And I forgive myself …!  Jesus, I believe in you! I believe you are God’s only begotten Son, that you died for my sake and that you rose from the dead to give me eternal life in Heaven when I confess you as my only Lord and Savior.

Jesus, thank you for loving me – I want to receive your love – come into my heart – come with your Holy Spirit and fill my void, Lord. Let me feel your presence, Jesus.

Amen!

The prayer in itself is NOT enough. Repentance from your old lifestyle to Christ is important … as Paul describes it here:

Ephesians Chapter 4
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.
18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.

19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.

20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned.
21-22 When you heard about Christ and were taught about him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires
23 To be made new in the attitude of your minds;
24 And to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body.
26 In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.
27 And do not give the devil a foothold.
28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.
32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

The Bible says that  “He who believes AND is baptized will be saved” (Mark’s Gospel 16 v.16).

The word “baptism” (baptizō) means FULL EMERSION. The word “baptizō” (βαπτίζω) means…: “to emerge; to immerse; to wash; to clean with water; to bathe.”

In the Bible, the act of water baptism is used to ”bury” the old sinful life after which we ”arise” to a new life with Christ – so baptism is about living a whole new life with Jesus as Lord. It is no longer you who live, but Jesus lives in you. Baptism is powerful and it washes away your sins – and at the same time you declare to powers and principalities that now you belong to Jesus Christ. Baptism is important; and combined with faith it sets us free!

…is baptism only for grown-ups? No – everyone who is old enough to have a living faith in Jesus Christ may be baptized.

Today we are quite ”hesitant” when it comes to doing a baptism, but at the Bible days it was done as soon as people believed and wanted to surrender to Christ – because a baptism is not just a symbol, it is a spiritual break with the old life and with old bondings.

In Acts, Chapter 22 v 15-16 we read Ananias telling Paul:

“… You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard. And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.”

…and then the great ministry of Paul begins. Even Jesus was baptized in water and in the Holy Spirit before the start of his ministry.

Also read Colossians 2 about ”the burial” that takes place in baptism (also mentioned elsewhere in the Bible).

12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,

14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.

So in short: Baptism must be based on your own faith – and baptism must be to bury your OLD life in order to arise to a new life with Christ.

Then what is this new life all about…? Read Colossians 3:1-10:

1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.
7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.

8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.
9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices
10 And have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

So if you were christenend/baptized as a baby … what was the ”old life” that you buried in baptism? And did you choose at the time to live with/as Christ? And were you “fully immersed”?

A somewhat provocative story:
A wealthy farmer who was active in a church, which did christenings, once had a stable hand who believed in “baptism of the believer”. The two could not agree when they talked about the practice of baptism and the symbolism of burial and resurrection with Christ. Except for this one subject, the two of them got along just fine and the farmer appreciated his stable hand a lot.

One day the farmer’s best horse died and he mourned for many days. The farmer asked his hand to bury the horse, which the hand agreed to do. However, three days later the farmer passed by the dunghill. He was horrified to see (and to smell) how the dead horse had be placed on top of the dunghill. In rage he yelled the name of the hand and gave him a reprimand that matched the incident.

When he had cooled off, the hand was able to explain himself and said, “You know how much I always respected you and tried to do whatever you asked me to do to the best of my ability”. The farmer agreed with that. “But what I just did”, the hand said, “I buried the horse according to your principles. I placed it here and then I put three shovelfuls of earth on its head. Because that is what you call a real burial”.

Become full of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit enables you to live your new life with Jesus without sin, but the Holy Spirit also gives you spiritual gifts, such as the gift of tongues, which is a “secret” language between you and God. If you read Acts Chapter 19 you see how believers were given the Holy Spirit (the spirit of God) when another disciple prayed for them.

2 There he met some disciples and asked them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
3 So Paul asked, ”Then what baptism did you receive?” ”John’s baptism,” they replied.

4 Paul said, ”John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”
5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
6 When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.

Romans 6 verse 5 says: “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.”
– so a faith that is not active through praying to God and through preaching to people – which is trying to be like Jesus – is an empty faith.

James 2
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith, but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?
15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.
16 If one of you says to them, ”Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?
17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18 But someone will say, ”You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.
19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder.
20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?
21 Was not out father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.
23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, ”Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend.
24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?
26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.