Paul the apostle wrote:
“That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth confesses, resulting in salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).
We must be spiritually born-again:
“Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born-again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him,”How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?”
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born-again'” (John 3:3-7)
When we ask Jesus to forgive us our sins and truly repent, then we become born-again and saved. It is a good idea to pray a sincere prayer of confession and repentance. The words don’t really matter, but the genuine intent of the heart does matter. Upon salvation the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us and it is by His power and strength we are able to leave behind the ways of the world and live more godly lives. .
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
When you do this, the Bible tells us through the apostle Paul:
“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38- 39).