Tag: Salvation Assurance

Blessed Assurance! (Pt 3)

Blessed Assurance Part 3: Obeying & Loving God’s Word, Knowing the Truth

Through the first two devotions, we have revealed several ways to know we are saved. Just to review; Satanic Attacks, Scriptural Assurance, and The Holy Spirit’s Ministry, and Answered Prayer, helped us to understand that signs of these in our lives should be clues of our salvation. In this devotion we will discover two more unique ways to know that we are saved. They are “Obeying and Loving God’s Word”, and “Knowing the Truth”.

Obeying and Loving God’s Word

There are many scriptural references on obeying and loving God’s word. In both the old and new testaments, we see how Obeying God’s Word is our source for instruction and guidance. We need only to make a stop in Psalm 119 to find wonderful references to Loving God’s Word and the benefits it gives us in our lives. As we study these passages, we begin to understand how it correlates to knowing that we are saved.

• Obeying God’s Word

As children of God, that is those of us who proclaim Him as Lord, believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths that Jesus is our savior and Lord of our lives (Romans 10:9-13), we are given a strong desire to obey His commands.

God’s word is essential in understanding the value in keeping His word. We see this in Psalm 19:9-11: “Moreover, by them Your servant is warned [reminded, illuminated, and instructed]; In keeping them there is great reward.” If you have a strong desire to obey His commands (John 14:15), that is another indication you are saved. The strong desire to obey, understanding its value and keeping His commands are more ways for us to have assurance of our salvation.

Here are some scripture references that you can look up in your study to help you understand how important it is for believers to obey God’s word.
Refs: Hebrews 4:12, Deuteronomy 11:1, 2 John 1:6, Luke 11:28, James 1:25

• Loving God’s Word

Do you love to read God’s word? Do you feel a sense of loss if you miss that opportunity on days that you couldn’t get to reading / studying it? Does your heart long for the opportunity to allow God to speak to you when you miss your quiet time? As we read parts of Psalm 119, I’m going to quote several passages that are specific to our study today. When you read it, ask yourself if you have those same desires that the author (King David) had.
Do you delight, love and meditate? (vs 47-48)
Do you seek Him with all your heart? (vs 10)
Are His words more important that money or possessions? (vs 72)
Are His words “sweet to your taste”? (vs 103)
There are multiple verses (see below) that talk about the “delight in obeying God’s Laws”. (Psalm 119: 14-16, 24, 35, 70, 77, 92, 167, 143, 174)

If you can answer YES to the questions above and you see yourself proclaiming the same delight as the Psalmist does, you are saved! This is a wonderful gift that God has given you; THANK HIM!

Knowing The Truth!

The scriptures show us that if we Know the Truth, we can know we are saved. The world (the unsaved), thinks as unsaved people would naturally, and we should not be surprised. But we are of God and He listens to us because we are His (1 John 4:5-6). When Thomas asked Jesus the way to heaven, Jesus replies that, “I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me” (John 14:6 ). Later on in the book of John, Jesus prays for his disciples and all that are to follow in John 17:17 that God would sanctify them with truth as God’s word is truth! For those who believe in Christ, John 8:23 says “You shall know the Truth and the Truth shall set you free.” As a Christian you should understand the word, and be able to handle it accurately (2 Timothy 4:2) So if you know the truth, you should KNOW that you are saved! Here is yet more proof of your relationship with Christ is firm.

A strong desire to love and obey God’s word, knowing the truth of His words, and being able to apply them to your life are clear indications that God has saved you and you can be secure in your relationship with Him!

In our next devotion we will add two more assurances that we are saved. We will see how “Hating Sin” and “Loving Other Christians” are indications of our salvation.

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!