How You Can Have The Assurance Of Salvation

And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. ~1John 5:11-13

There is a gift that I would like to present to every Christian. It cannot be packed in excelsior, wrapped in brightly colored paper, tied with polychrome ribbon, or sealed with good wishes. It cannot be purchased with silver or gold. It is more valuable than all the treasures of this world. All the gold in all the nations of the world could not suffice as a down payment. It is not a material gift of this secular world but a real gift of the spiritual realm. It is intangible, but it is of inestimable and intrinsic value. Many who are rich would pay a handsome sum to possess it. Multitudes strive for it but find it just out of reach. As we face a future filled  with fear and foreboding, it might appear as a will-o’-the-wisp. It is desperately and devoutly desired but seldom attained.

The world lists this gift as peace of mind, as a feeling of security that all is well for the future. Psychology defines it as a well-integrated personality freed from frustration. Scripture is more specific. The Bible sets forth this gift as a knowledge, a certainty, and an assurance concerning one’s personal relationship to God. Simply stated, it is the assurance regarding one’s salvation.

Can we know experientially that we are saved and that we are the children of God? For years, my soul was tossed on the troubled sea of uncertainty and insecurity. Finally, there dawned upon my darkened mind the light of Philippians 1:6 –

Being confident of this very thing, that he who hath begun a good work in you will perform [perfect] it until the day of Jesus Christ.

The God Of Israel Will Be Your Rereward

Tinago Falls, Iligan City, Philippines

By Oswald Chambers

Security from Yesterday. "God requireth that which is past." At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all that God has for the future, and yet anxiety is apt to arise from remembering the yesterdays. Our present enjoyment of God's grace is apt to be checked by the memory of yesterday's sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them in order to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual culture for the future. God reminds us of the past lest we get into a shallow security in the present.

Security for Tomorrow. "For the Lord will go before you." This is a gracious revelation, that God will garrison where we have failed to. He will watch lest things trip us up again into like failure, as they assuredly would do if He were not our rereward. God's hand reaches back to the past and makes a clearing-house for conscience.

Security for Today. "For ye shall not go out with haste." As we go forth into the coming year, let it not be in the haste of impertuous, unremembering delight, nor with the flight of impulsive thoughtlessness, but with the patient power of knowing that the God of Israel will go before us. Our yesterdays present irreparable things to us; it is true that we have lost opportunities which will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past sleep, but let it sleep on the bossom of Christ.

Leave the Irreparable Past in His hands, and step out into the Irresistible Future with Him.

You Are On God's Mind

Tapiutan Beach, El Nido, Palawan, Philippines

"I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands" (Isaiah 49:15-16).

Noah was totally helpless to change his situation. There was nothing he could do except to stay on the ark and tend to the needs of his family and those of the animals until God in some way brought deliverance. He had to keep his faith in God while simply waiting out the silence that followed the storm.

Although He had been silent, God had not forgotten Noah. In fact, since Noah and his family were the only living persons on the face of the earth, we can be sure they had God's total, undivided attention every moment.

Do you think God's silence in your life means He has forgotten you? Oh, no! God says He has engraved your name on the palms of His hands. You are in God's heart and on His mind every moment. He is fully informed of your circumstances and will bring about change when He knows the time is right.