.....And when you believed in Christ, He identified you as His own by giving (sealing) you the Holy Spirit, who He promised long ago.
Worked in the yard yesterday. Not a bad day to do such. Good breeze...low humidity...got a lot done. But...(there's that dreaded word) I am sore and a bit punchy this morning. usually as I wake up in the mornings, God begins to formulate what He wants me to put on the Greene Street Letters, to the point that when I sit down at my computer, I have a topic and a Bible Verse. I know you may think the same thing happened this morning...but it didn't.
I was blank...
There was no one home in my mind...
The lights were out...
I sat staring at the monitor as if something magical was going to pop out at me.
There wasn't any "popping" going on.
But there was one word that kept floating through my thoughts.
The word? Assurance.
Being assured of my salvation.
A spiritual "knowing", if you will, that you have indeed been brought into relationship with the living God.
Assurance!
Not a flashy term...or even a popular one.
I can't remember the last time I even heard someone teach on the assurance of God.
But it is the cornerstone of our faith.
Assurance isn't something we can work up in ourselves.
It isn't me determining whether I'm saved or not.
It is God telling me that everything is now settled and I can be about this new life of following Jesus.
I don't have to doubt.
I don't have to fear..
I don't have to second guess myself.
I can know.
Well, that sounds kind of arrogant, doesn't it?
No, because it isn't coming from me...
Assurance is given to me, by God through His Holy Spirit filling me up.
I use to be consumed with doubt about my salvation.
In fact, if the truth be known, I was probably saved somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 times. I would go down to the front when the invitation was given, and it would be a sincere move on my part. Pray the prayer (and mean it), leave that place and in less than 24 hours be struggling with whether I was saved or not. At one point, I even thought that maybe I was "unsaveable". Next Sunday...same thing over again. Hear the message...my heart would be touched...down to the front...say the words (and mean them)....leave.....doubt.
I can't pinpoint the exact time or day when I suddenly knew (with a knowing that wasn't coming from my own mind) that I had been saved. The doubt was gone. The fear had been replaced with a peace, and from that time forward I have never doubted my salvation.
Weird, ain't it.
I guess part of my dilemma was that I was looking for a feeling to accompany the whole salvation thing. As I've grown in this relationship, it has been made very clear that I don't feel things as some others do. But when God does move or is working in me, there is a knowing that happens deep inside to let me know what's going on.
Why have I written this today?
Maybe someone out there needs to know that God will confirm your salvation.
That confirmation will come in the form of His Holy Spirit. The only one who can give us peace. The devil can't do that. Peace is the one thing the devil cannot counterfeit. Ain't that cool?
God on you....
mbb
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