Psalm 37:34-40 New American Standard Bible 1995
34 Wait for the Lord and keep His way,
And He will exalt you to inherit the land;
When the wicked are cut off, you will see it.
35 I have seen a wicked, violent man
Spreading himself like a luxuriant [a]tree in its native soil.
36 Then [b]he passed away, and lo, he was no more;
I sought for him, but he could not be found.
37 Mark the [c]blameless man, and behold the upright;
For the man of peace will have a [d]posterity.
38 But transgressors will be altogether destroyed;
The [e]posterity of the wicked will be cut off.
39 But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;
He is their strength in time of trouble.
40 The Lord helps them and delivers them;
He delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
Because they take refuge in Him.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
What have I to dread, what have I to fear,
leaning on the everlasting arms?
I have blessed peace with my Lord so near,
leaning on the everlasting arms. Text: Elisha A. Hoffman
Most of us have had frightening times during our Christian walk where we doubt our salvation and the salvation of our family members and friends.
Knowing what they believe, knowing what they think, knowing their mindset, in comparison and contrast to what I know I believe, what I think, my mindset.
In light of events from the recent General Conference of the United Methodist Church, the seismic shift of beliefs, of orthodoxy, leaves many to wonder if a whole portion of the Body of Christ has just turned their backs on Salvation.
Isaiah 53:1-6 New American Standard Bible 1995
The Suffering Servant
53 Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For He grew up before Him like a tender [a]shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should [b]be attracted to Him.
3 He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of [c]sorrows and acquainted with [d]grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4 Surely our [e]griefs He Himself bore,
And our [f]sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
[g]Smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But He was [h]pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our [i]well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
6 All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all
To [j]fall on Him.
“All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way”
Rather than feeling secure in our salvation, going astray to our own way, do we now feel somehow that we are not really saved. Maybe we feel we didn’t believe “enough” or we feel we wouldn’t doubt our salvation if we were truly saved.
If we are going through this or have gone through this, or know somebody is, or wonder if someone or a whole group of someone’s, or suddenly become aware there are others whom God sees, has compassion for where we ourselves are lacking or ignoring because of our deeply seeded biases and prejudices or self imposed legalistic “do not touch” avoidance measures, know you are not alone.
With words and phrases such as “who has believed our message, And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” and Romans 10:14 “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?“ in the Word of God,
It’s probably very common for believers to doubt their salvation at least once during our lives, non believers to wonder about another Christians salvation.
Micah 6:6-8 New American Standard Bible 1995
What God Requires of Man
6 With what shall I come to the Lord
And bow myself before the God on high?
Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings,
With yearling calves?
7 Does the Lord take delight in thousands of rams,
In ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts,
The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice, to love [a]kindness,
And to walk [b]humbly with your God?
Knowing what God Requires of me, am I Really Saved?
Personally, I have faced the question of “Am I actually saved?” countless times.
Just last week I had the same question come into my mind after finishing the Gospel of Matthew.
Rather than focusing on the salvation that Jesus has given us,
I was focused on all of Jesus’ statements on hell, of weeping and gnashing of teeth, on “begone I knew you not,” the very foreboding words of Matthew 25.
All the admonishments of “always being ready, the Parables of the Talents, and the soils and always investing myself into the work of laboring, planting toiling harvesting” of the Kingdom of God but find myself too biased, too hesitant, too fearful of too many unproven self imposed prejudices and untouchable beliefs.
I started connecting salvation with works, which is never very good to do.
While Jesus does talk more about hell than any other topic during His earthly ministry, he never tells us that if we place faith in Him, we will go to hell.
There is so much irrational over rationalization coming from too many places.
What have I to dread, what have I to fear,
leaning on the everlasting arms?
I have blessed peace with my Lord so near,
leaning on the everlasting arms. Text: Elisha A. Hoffman
Salvation is based solely on placing faith in Jesus (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Placing faith in Jesus means believing that Jesus died for your sins, was buried, and rose again (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).
The Lord tells us, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16-17).
As Jesus tells us, the Father loves us so much that He sent His Son to die for us.
Moreover, Jesus tells us that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.
Now, if you’re like me and have been told John 3:16-17 too many times for you to count, most likely the effect of the verse has been watered down, washed out.
Since you’ve heard it so many times, John 3:16-17 has become mindless words.
If it has become mindless words to you, the all encompassing truth of the verses have become muddied, have become an ocean of quicksand, I then challenge all of us to carefully read and pray John 3:16-17 just as I did, see how it highlights the deeper truths of God’s love, how we have eternal life by believing in Jesus.
Our heartfelt believing in Jesus is sufficient for salvation. (Romans 10:9-13)
We don’t have to follow the law in its completeness, nor are we required to be the “perfect” Christian people.
By the words of truth contained in Acts 4:8-12, rather, believing in Jesus and accepting Him as your Savior and Lord is all that is required for salvation.
8 Then Peter, [a]filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “[b]Rulers and elders of the people, 9 if we are [c]on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man, [d]as to how this man has been made well, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that [e]by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—[f]by [g]this name this man stands here before you in good health. 11 [h]He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief corner stone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”
We cannot earn salvation in any other way. Salvation is by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-10).
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and [a]that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
There is nothing we can do to earn salvation, and there is nothing we can do to lose it. There are many people who spread the lie that one can lose salvation, but this isn’t true. Once you have placed faith in Jesus, you are eternally saved.
Doubting Salvation
Truth is we don’t have to know the exact moment when we were saved in order to be saved. As long as we have placed our heartfelt faith in Him, we are saved.
Yet, even with this being established, we can still often doubt our salvation.
Even many strong Christians I know also have doubted their salvation at some point. I have been around Christian pastors, professors and read from Christian authors how they, have doubted their salvation at least once in their lifetime.
What of the Samaritan woman at the well who has been divorced five times?
What of the woman with the chronic years long issue of blood for whom no cure could be found no matter how much money was spent, which doctor treated her in that chronic never ending state of “hopelessly unclean and untouchable?”
If mankind wants nothing to do with me, wont talk to me, wont even touch me, ignores me, ignores my family and friends, my people, go so far and treats me like the Leper’s walling me off from society trying to separate me from my God?
Those thoughts, beliefs and actions have not disappeared in thousands of years!
No one would stand innocent of these grievous sins before the judgment of God!
Doubts are ever before me, crashing into my thoughts
Truth also is (Genesis 3) The one who plants these seeds of doubt is Satan.
The devil wants to make us unproductive for the Lord and cause us to stumble.
By planting uncountable numbers of the seeds of doubt in our minds, it is the perfect way to make us unfruitful for the Lord. Instead of going out and making disciples or growing in our own walk with Jesus, we are being plagued by the lies of Satan—that we aren’t ever saved or that we didn’t believe “enough.”
These doubts are enough to paralyze or make you question your entire beliefs.
As someone who has been there, know you are not alone.
Know also that these lies are but lies, and they are not true.
If you have placed your heartfelt faith in Jesus, you are saved.
You believe, and you believe enough.
My Pastor in my Lay Speaking and Licensing classes talked deeply about this subject as it was something he freely confessed also had struggled with during his early years of walking with the Lord and in his call into ordained ministry.
He shared his epiphany that there is no point in someone believing more than someone else.
As long as you heartfelt believe in Jesus, you are saved.
There are no differing degrees of belief, nor are there people who believed more than you or knew more than you, were older wiser that would nullify your faith.
When you believe, you believe.
You did not have “not enough” faith when you placed faith in Christ.
The devil wants to cause these doubts to rise in our minds, but we can talk back to them. Whenever you doubt your salvation, pray to God, talk back to the lies.
Tell them that Jesus saved you and that you are saved.
Nothing and nobody can take away your salvation.
Remind yourself that you are eternally saved by God, and this will never change.
Acts 4:12 tells us, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
Jesus is the ONLY Name we are saved by.
We are not saved based on our works.
Rather, we are saved by the Name of Jesus.
When doubts circle your mind too much, and you find yourself paralyzed, call out to God and ask Him for His help. It’s God alone who reads all of our hearts.
1 Samuel 16:7 New American Standard Bible 1995
7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for [a]God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
As Psalm 51 so rightfully teaches; Tell Him you are struggling with assurance of your salvation and that you need exactly Him to fill your heart with the blessed assurance of knowing you are completely and unconditionally saved in Him.
While these thoughts may return, you can talk back to them and ask God for His help again and then by Psalm 32, communicate the truth about His forgiveness.
Psalm 32 New American Standard Bible 1995
Blessedness of Forgiveness and of Trust in God.
A Psalm of David. A [a]Maskil.
32 How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered!
2 How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no deceit!
3 When I kept silent about my sin, my [b]body wasted away
Through my [c]groaning all day long.
4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
My [d]vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. [e]Selah.
5 I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I did not hide;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”;
And You forgave the [f]guilt of my sin. Selah.
6 Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You [g]in a time when You may be found;
Surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach him.
7 You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble;
You surround me with [h]songs of deliverance. Selah.
8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go;
I will counsel you with My eye upon you.
9 Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding,
Whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check,
Otherwise they will not come near to you.
10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
But he who trusts in the Lord, lovingkindness shall surround him.
11 Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones;
And shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.
Causing you to doubt your salvation is a common tactic of Satan because he knows it is efficient.
Don’t allow Satan the pleasure of doubting your salvation or feeding into it. If you have placed heartfelt faith in Jesus and accepted Him as your Savior and Lord, you are eternally saved. You are given forgiveness of sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and eternal life. None of these things will ever be taken from you.
Confide in God
Matthew 11:28-30 New American Standard Bible 1995
28 “Come to Me, all [a]who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is [b]easy and My burden is light.”
Whenever you begin doubting your salvation, turn to God.
Tell Him your doubts and ask Him to help you overcome your unbelief.
He is faithful, and He will help you in your time of need.
As you continue to grow in your walk with Christ, you might have these doubts rise again, but talk back to them and return to the Bible.
Remind yourself of John 3:16-17 and how salvation is only found in the Lord.
Placing faith exclusively in Christ is the only requirement for salvation.
There is no way for someone to be saved apart from Christ.
A person cannot earn their own salvation nor do other faith systems save a person.
The Source of Salvation
Psalm 37:34-40 The Message
34 Wait passionately for God,
don’t leave the path.
He’ll give you your place in the sun
while you watch the wicked lose it.
35-36 I saw Wicked bloated like a toad,
croaking pretentious nonsense.
The next time I looked there was nothing—
a punctured bladder, vapid and limp.
37-38 Keep your eye on the healthy soul,
scrutinize the straight life;
There’s a future
in strenuous wholeness.
But the willful will soon be discarded;
insolent souls are on a dead-end street.
39-40 The spacious, free life is from God,
it’s also protected and safe.
God-strengthened, we’re delivered from evil—
when we run to him, he saves us.
Every person wants a life that is rich, full, abundant, and free.
These good things satisfy the deepest longings of our heart.
We receive these gifts by focusing on our creator God.
St. Augustine of Hippo, an early church leader, wrote these words to God:
“Our hearts are restless until they find rest in you.”
Our inner peace comes when we turn our life over to God, who made us.
By the revealed Word of God, by the revealed truth inside, We yearn for a special relationship with God, but it can be hard for us to rest in him. We don’t see God; we don’t hear, smell him or talk with him the way we do with people around us.
Our relationship with God is different from every other relationship in life.
God is absolutely unique.
How do I find and focus on God?
Where do I get faith in God?
What makes me feel that God and I belong together?
Thankfully, knowing God is a gift from him.
He reveals himself freely.
David discovered that and wrote about it in Psalm 37.
You want the great life with God?
Just ask for it. Jesus said, “Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete” (John 16:24).
John 16:21-24 The Message
21-23 “When a woman gives birth, she has a hard time, there’s no getting around it. But when the baby is born, there is joy in the birth. This new life in the world wipes out memory of the pain. The sadness you have right now is similar to that pain, but the coming joy is also similar. When I see you again, you’ll be full of joy, and it will be a joy no one can rob from you. You’ll no longer be so full of questions.
23-24 “This is what I want you to do: Ask the Father for whatever is in keeping with the things I’ve revealed to you. Ask in my name, according to my will, and he’ll most certainly give it to you. Your joy will be a river overflowing its banks!
God wants us to ask for all kinds of things like this that are within his will for us (see 1 John 5:14).
1 John 5:14-15The Message
The Reality, Not the Illusion
13-15 My purpose in writing is simply this: that you who believe in God’s Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life, the reality and not the illusion. And how bold and free we then become in his presence, freely asking according to his will, sure that he’s listening. And if we’re confident that he’s listening, we know that what we’ve asked for is as good as ours.
Ask God to make himself known to you.
He did that already when his Son, Jesus, died for you.
This is the time for a right relationship with God!
Only Jesus died for our sins and was resurrected three days later.
Only Jesus is God in the flesh (John 1:14; Philippians 2:6-8).
The Lord has the victory, defeated death, and all who will place faith in Him, too, will overcome death and spend eternity with Him. (1 Corinthians 15:50-57)
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
How desperately I want a rich and right relationship with you, dear God. Thank you for giving it as a gift through the death and resurrection of your son, Jesus. Amen.
Psalm 24 The Message
24 1-2 God claims Earth and everything in it,
God claims World and all who live on it.
He built it on Ocean foundations,
laid it out on River girders.
3-4 Who can climb Mount God?
Who can scale the holy north-face?
Only the clean-handed,
only the pure-hearted;
Men who won’t cheat,
women who won’t seduce.
5-6 God is at their side;
with God’s help they make it.
This, Jacob, is what happens
to God-seekers, God-questers.
7 Wake up, you sleepyhead city!
Wake up, you sleepyhead people!
King-Glory is ready to enter.
8 Who is this King-Glory?
God, armed
and battle-ready.
9 Wake up, you sleepyhead city!
Wake up, you sleepyhead people!
King-Glory is ready to enter.
10 Who is this King-Glory?
God-of-the-Angel-Armies:
he is King-Glory.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 