Category: Study Series

Blessed Assurance! (Pt 2)

Blessed Assurance Part 2: The Holy Spirit’s Ministry, Answered Prayer

In this series on assurance we have seen how the bible defines salvation. We found the first of several ways to understand how insecurity can creep into our relationship with Christ and attack our security. We’ve learned that “Spiritual Warfare” and “Scriptural Assurance” are two ways that we can know we are in fact God’s children. We have seen, using many scriptures, how those interact and again point to the sovereignty of God and His great love for us. Today, I’d like to dig into the next couple of ways that we can know that we are saved. “The Holy Spirit’s Ministry” and “Answered Prayer”, are distinct and clear ways of knowing without a doubt whose we are!

The Holy Spirit’s Ministry

As a believer, you know who the Holy Spirit is and many things about Him. You know that He was given to us as believers (1 John 4:13). As we look together into how He works in our lives, we will see how evidences of His ministry assures us of our salvation.

So let’s look at a few of His ministries towards us.
• Intimate fellowship with God (Galatians 4:6): As believers, His Spirit draws us to Himself and comforts us as His dear children. Think of your dearest and closest friend here on this earth. That person who knows you best and cares for you no matter what happens. As close as that relationship is, a Christian’s relationship with God can be even deeper. Find comfort in knowing He has you and you are secure in Him.
• Compelled to praise! (Ephesians 5:19): Do you feel the need to just cry out in praise to the Father? The filling of the Spirit produces that praise in you. In my life I find that I can’t help but shout to the Lord and glorify Him! There’s a song by Chris Tomlin called “You and I were made to worship“. I’d suggest that you listen to that song and know that if everything cries out from you – that is another sign of your salvation. Those who don’t love Him, can’t do that, nor do they want to.
• Showing the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23): (Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control) Are you seeing these in your life? If you look at the previous points here in this section, you can see other fruits as well. Do you feel compelled to pray and meditate on His words or sing out in praise? Those too are ways to draw nearer to Him in fellowship. These are more ways that He shows you that you are His!
• Gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:4-13): A partial quote is here: “4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. 6 There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. 7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” As a new or older Christian you may not yet have discovered your gift from the Spirit. If you don’t see the gifts above, remember that there are a “variety of gifts, but the same Spirit”. If you are saved, you have a desire to know what God has equipped you with and you can easily find it. I would suggest that you start out by asking God to reveal it to you. He WILL! There are several websites that will guide you through the process. Here is one suggestion: Spiritual Gifts Test (It is free and confidential. At the end they will give you a detailed report based upon your answers. They will also ask you to create a login; go ahead as I believe that it is well worth it.)
• Only through His Spirit you can say “Jesus is [my] Lord” (1 Corinthians 12:3 AMP): If you believe in your heart – and have confessed Him as Lord of your life, you are saved. Trust in Him and trust in the decision you made to follow Him! You will never regret it if you are saved!

“Let the Holy Spirit’s work in your life dispel the dark shadows of doubt1.”

Answered Prayer

It has been answered by evangelists and pastors for years when asked if God answered prayers, that He answers either “yes”, “no”, or “not now”. Whatever the answer to your prayer is, you got an answer to your prayer! So as we ponder answers to our prayers, let’s start with where our heart is when first approaching God with our request. Remembering at all times that God is faithful to His word. He says that if we are righteous before Him, our prayer to Him can accomplish much (James 5:16).

Inward or Outward?

When you begin to pray for a certain situation or event that is upcoming in your life, ask yourself what is the motivation? Are we asking things that are pleasing to Him (1 John 3:22), or are your motives driven by your own desires? I would encourage you to read 1 John 5:14-15. Here we are reminded that if we believe in the name of the Son of God, we are saved. Since we are saved we can come before Him confidently if we ask according to His will.

Let’s ask some more questions!

As we’ve now focused on what God’s will is in our prayer life, let’s look a little deeper and see where he has answered us! If we reflect on several questions, we can see just how God does answer prayer. 2For example: “Have you prayed for someones difficult situation and seen God turn it around to one of joy and blessing? Have you seen an unsaved person you’ve prayed for come to Christ? Has God filled a void in your life that you prayed that He would? Have you prayed for boldness in proclaiming the gospel and seen God working through you? Have you known forgiveness and a clear conscience after you’ve prayed to that end?”

How about other areas in your life? If you think on those things, you will see where God answered your prayers. Have you thanked Him for saying “no” when you came to realize what a horrible mistake it could have been if yes was the answer? Have you seen where only God could have accomplished something in your life? Have you ever stopped and said “Wow, that’s definitely a God Thing”? If you can truly answer “YES” to any of those questions, you most certainly are saved! Have confidence dear brother or sister.

In this section of our study, we have learned that the Holy Spirit’s Ministry and Answered Prayers in our lives will help us gain confidence in our salvation. We see again where the scriptures point us to security in Christ. The next attributes of assurance will be: “Obeying and Loving Gods Word” and “Knowing the Truth”!

References: 1,2From “Strength For Today” by Dr John MacArthur

Blessed Assurance! (Pt 1)

Blessed Assurance (Pt 1): Spiritual Warfare, Scriptural Assuredness

As believers in Jesus Christ we should know that we are saved. Sometimes though, every one of us lets a little doubt creep into our thinking and makes us question our relationship with Christ. In this world that hates God and all the evil influences in our path everyday, doubt can sneak in on us when we least expect it.

Today’s devotion is the first in this series titled: “Blessed Assurance”. As I began to dig down and research, I found many things that could make us wonder about our security. Today we start with the first 2 of 12 characteristics of knowing we are saved: “Spiritual Warfare” and “Scriptural Assuredness”. There may be many other ways to be assured, but these came to me during my preparation! Our goal is to learn how we as believers can call on all the resources that God gives us to have the security we need in knowing that we are truly saved!

What is Salvation?

So to begin with, I wanted to share what I believe the Bible – God’s Word – says about salvation. Simply put, Salvation comes from knowing you need a savior because you are a sinner. Below is an excerpt from my website page “The Gospel”:

1) Man is sinful and needs a savior to be with God in Heaven one day (Rom 3:23)
2) Our sin separates us from God (Rom 6:23a), and without salvation man is destined to eternity in hell separated from God. (2 Thes 1:9) (Rev 20:15)
3) God gave us His Son (John 3:16). He lived a perfect life and gave His life for us. He paid the price for our sins. (Rom 6:23b) (Rom 5:8)
4) Each person must know that he needs and Savior and individually receive Christ as Savior.
5) He must confess his sins and ask Christ to save him. (Rom 10:9-13)
6) Once a man has received Christ he is born again into the family of God. (Rom 8:1 & 5:1)

If you have not made that decision, I invite you to consider today to give your life over to Him. You can see the plan of salvation fully by clicking on this link.

Spiritual Warfare!

Certainly our adversary the devil would attack and accuse us to create doubts. We know that he “prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour”. (1 Peter 5:8) We know that his desire is to destroy our testimony, ruin and harm our walk with God causing us to doubt who we are in Christ. He knows that he can’t snatch us out of the hand of God (John 10:28-30), so he does what he can to disrupt our lives in Jesus. Because we know that the forces of evil are constantly at war with us in the heavenly realms (Eph 6:10-17), we are given tools to use and those tools create not just a defensive shield but an assuredness that we are saved and standing firm. You see, the devil has no reason to make non-believers question if they are saved, because he already has them. The same thing goes for people who think they are saved and actually are not. He already has them too! But he does not have you my fellow believer, so he uses every trick and lie he knows to keep you from obeying God and growing in Him. He’s the accuser, the father of all lies and he hates you so much that he will never relent in making you question everything in your life regarding your relationship with Christ.

I thought I’d share a few of the lies he has put in my mind over the years:

1: “There is no assurance, you can lose your salvation.”
2: “Your sin makes you unworthy of God.”
3:“You’re so evil that God will not hear you. Your past sins are disgusting to Him and now He’s turned His back on you leaving you all alone.”
4: “You’ve probably committed the ‘unpardonable sin’ and have no hope.”
5: “If you were really saved, you would be evangelizing everyone. But you know you’re not even close.”
6: “Where’s your ‘fruit’? There’s nothing in your life that even suggests you believe.”

Do those sound familiar? They do to me too! When you hear these lies, remember Satan is the father of all lies. (John 8:44) Rebuke him and he will flee. (James 4:7) When doubt creeps in, immediately submit to Christ and let Jesus know you love Him and that you know you are His! Quoting scripture is what Jesus did in refuting the devil, and that’s what we should do too. Start learning more scripture today! If the devil is making you truly question your salvation, that’s a sign you are saved.

Scripture Assures Us!

As spiritual attacks challenge us in our lives, we need to remember that God’s Word is our source and we can count on it to be true! (2 Tim 3:16) Lets examine several scripture references that assures us of our salvation!

1) “An Inheritance which is Imperishable !” 1 Peter 1:3-5 The entire passage is listed here: 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. Re-read this passage again, the answers are right there in front of us. We need to commit this to memory and say it out loud in rebuke of satanic attack on our assuredness in Him. What could possibly take our salvation away that is in heaven and is “shielded” (guarded in the Greek) by the power of God? The answer Nothing! See our next reference…

2) “Nothing can separate us!” Romans 8:38-39 Paul here writes to the Christians residing in Rome that salvation is so secure that nothing NOTHING, can separate us from the love of God. Not Life or Death, Not angels, Not principalities, Not things present or things to come, Not powers, Not height or depth, Not any other created thing! You can count on it!

3) “Safe in God’s Hands” John 10:28-30 Jesus says “..No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” Once we understand this principle, all our worries about eternal security will be calmed. Another awesome way God lovingly reassures us that we are safe in Him.

4) “Born of God” 1 John 5:1 Many claim to be children of God in today’s confused society. But we know through these scriptures that only people who are born of God are God’s children. He further illustrates this a bit further on in this passage.

As Christians, we can take comfort that if God says we are saved through His word, then we KNOW that we are. His word is true and you can count on it 100% of the time! Here are some other scriptures that you can reference in your self study. Ephesians 1:13, 1 John 5:11-12, John 10:27-28, John 5:24, 2 Corinthians 1:22

We have covered a great deal in this first installment of our series on assuredness of salvation. We’ve defined what the Bible says salvation is, we’ve seen how the devil will attack us and we’ve seen how the scriptures remind us of whose we are in Christ. The next devotion will be on how “The Holy Spirit’s Leading” and “Answered Prayer”, are clear indications of our security in Christ!

Joint Web Page Created

In the past, I’ve been able to use my Ministry weblog to share my music, thoughts and experiences with y’all. Unfortunately, that blog had a lot of unwanted and – to some extent – inappropriate advertising ads. Also, the blog was only intended for my ministry and I chose not to include other things that would be interesting to some.

I’ve long wanted to go ahead and add other areas of my life that would have pictures, videos and other areas such as my aviation trips and maybe a pic or two of my family life. So I added a site with no advertising on it and decided to put it all under 1 roof. It’s free of ads and has a title that is easier to remember and use.

As the days go forward, I look forward to sharing more with you!