I struggle with assurance of salvation

[adoptedwatcher]

Hello! I have struggled with this doubt for years now. I wonder every now and then if I'm saved or not. I accepted Christ as my savior when I was a little girl. But years since then, my family has stopped going to church regularly for one reason or another. I struggle with stopping bad habits and certain sins. I wonder about how much fruit of the Spirit I produce. I've been reading the Bible a bit more than I used to, but I need to know if there is anything else I can do? Maybe a Bible plan I can follow, or articles to read. I need help to remove these doubts that cloud my mind. So thank you all and God bless!

 

[Dave L]

Hello! I have struggled with this doubt for years now. I wonder every now and then if I'm saved or not. I accepted Christ as my savior when I was a little girl. But years since then, my family has stopped going to church regularly for one reason or another. I struggle with stopping bad habits and certain sins. I wonder about how much fruit of the Spirit I produce. I've been reading the Bible a bit more than I used to, but I need to know if there is anything else I can do? Maybe a Bible plan I can follow, or articles to read. I need help to remove these doubts that cloud my mind. So thank you all and God bless!

I know I'm saved because I believe in Jesus. Had God not saved me I would not be able to believe nor want to believe. So I see my faith as proof God saved me.

 

[adoptedwatcher]

I know I'm saved because I believe in Jesus. Had God not saved me I would not be able to believe nor want to believe. So I see my faith as proof God saved me.

That's wonderful, thanks for responding! God bless. I guess i need to stop overthinking it. I need to know how to just believe. It seems like a simple concept yet I have trouble grasping that for some reason.

 

[Dave G.]

I've posted this before for others who have assurance issues, hopefully it helps a little:

 

[Not David]

Struggling is fine, it is better than believing to be saved and sinning.

 

[ripple the car]

So, first of all, I love your avatar! Very beautiful.

Second, our walks with Christ are a journey. We can stumble, get lazy, go through a period of depression or sadness, get side tracked, etc.

My take on salvation is that it's a journey. God saves us, and keeps saving us, and we cooperate with His grace. We gradually become holier, more like Christ, and more in Christ, but we still struggle with sin, doubt, the world, and our own desires that run contrary to God's Will.

Keep going. Keep reading your Bible, obey the New Testament with God's help, follow Christ, and above all, pray. Prayer is the key. Begin to consider going back to church. But take time to discern God's Will therein.

 

[Willing-heart]

Hello! I have struggled with this doubt for years now. I wonder every now and then if I'm saved or not. I accepted Christ as my savior when I was a little girl. But years since then, my family has stopped going to church regularly for one reason or another. I struggle with stopping bad habits and certain sins. I wonder about how much fruit of the Spirit I produce. I've been reading the Bible a bit more than I used to, but I need to know if there is anything else I can do? Maybe a Bible plan I can follow, or articles to read. I need help to remove these doubts that cloud my mind. So thank you all and God bless!

Being saved is not based on our feeble feelings, but rather, it is a Blessed Assurance (Ephesians 2:8) for those who believe in the Son of God, Christ Jesus (John 3:16). All you have to do is trust the Lord Jesus for your salvation. There's nothing you can do but only to trust the Lord.

God did not write our name in the book of life in pencil. He does not erase our name every time we sin, then writes it back in when we repent. When God writes our name in the book of life, He writes it in the precious blood of Jesus. There is no ink that is more permanent and indelible than the blood of our Saviour, Christ Jesus. Only the righteousness that Jesus Christ inputs in us is the righteousness that is acceptable to God the Father. And He looks at us and says I see you as righteous because Jesus’s blood has covered you, covered all your sins.

• You can only be in Christ through the grace of Christ
• You can only be in Christ through faith in Christ
• You can only be in Christ when you have placed your whole trust in Christ
• You are only in Christ by being saved by Christ alone

To be clear, the Scripture talks about faith in three different ways. Firstly, there is the Saving faith – No one can go to heaven without saving faith in Christ. Secondly, there is the Walking faith – A daily living faith in absolute trust and confidence in the living God. And thirdly, there is the Gift of faith – A spiritual gift of the Holy Spirit to some believers.

While the act of salvation from beginning to end is all Gods’, the work of daily transformation into the likeness of Christ is a joint effort between us and the Holy Spirit working together. To daily become like Christ simply means to live in obedience to God. Even our obedience to God requires God’s power. You cannot serve God’s purpose in your life without God’s power working in your life. Without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, we cannot do it.

Salvation is entirely the work of the sovereign God. There is no ambiguity in the scriptures about the fact that we could never save ourselves, we cannot work for our salvation, or buy our salvation. Salvation is a free gift from God. God did all the work of salvation by sending his son to the cross for us.

“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” – 1 John 5:13

Blessed Assurance {Part II}

 

[Vicky gould]

Hello! I have struggled with this doubt for years now. I wonder every now and then if I'm saved or not. I accepted Christ as my savior when I was a little girl. But years since then, my family has stopped going to church regularly for one reason or another. I struggle with stopping bad habits and certain sins. I wonder about how much fruit of the Spirit I produce. I've been reading the Bible a bit more than I used to, but I need to know if there is anything else I can do? Maybe a Bible plan I can follow, or articles to read. I need help to remove these doubts that cloud my mind. So thank you all and God bless!

Hi, the dry times are so difficult to go through but there are some things that may help us. The Apostle Paul who was used to write most of the New Testament said of himself not long before he was to die that he is, not was, the chief of sinners. This is not to encourage you or me to indulge in sin but this is what the struggle that exists between or fleshly old man and spiritual new man. Paul writes of these things in 2 Cor. 4 how this magnificent work the Lord has begun in us is still housed in jars of clay or are sinful flesh.

In one of Scriptures most beautiful passages go to the end of the Book of Matthews and we are told that the Lord is with us for all-time, even the dry times of life, and that He will never forsake us. When read in the Greek the verse has sacred Name of God I Am on either side of the word "You." In a most wonderful way it pictures for us the all encompassing presence of the Lord with us like the air He is all around us and in us and He has lost none that have been given to Him. One of my favorite verses, believe me I have a lot of them is, Be still and know I am the Lord. A small act of faith in the midst of the trial.

Lord as we come before your powerful Throne of Grace you who dwells on the Mercy Seat let us hear your call for those of us who thirst to come to you and we will be given Living Water. Please send that water to all of us when we find ourselves in the valley of dry bones we pass through in our life. Let the peace that surpasses all understanding be upon all of us and let us back to where there is sounds of joy and victory in the tents, our bodies, resounding for all to hear and bring you glory and honor.

 

[adoptedwatcher]

Struggling is fine, it is better than believing to be saved and sinning.

Thank you for responding! God bless

 

[adoptedwatcher]

So, first of all, I love your avatar! Very beautiful.

Second, our walks with Christ are a journey. We can stumble, get lazy, go through a period of depression or sadness, get side tracked, etc.

My take on salvation is that it's a journey. God saves us, and keeps saving us, and we cooperate with His grace. We gradually become holier, more like Christ, and more in Christ, but we still struggle with sin, doubt, the world, and our own desires that run contrary to God's Will.

Keep going. Keep reading your Bible, obey the New Testament with God's help, follow Christ, and above all, pray. Prayer is the key. Begin to consider going back to church. But take time to discern God's Will therein.

Hey Gracia! I like your avatar too! I really like that take on salvation. And I will definitely read the Bible and pray more often. Thank you for your advice and God bless!

 

[Dave G.]

"Adopted", the notion that you want to seek scripture and to know more about salvation in itself is evidence of salvation. At the very least God is active in you. These are good signs. You don't run towards God and the word just from your own merit, there is a power at work in you bringing you to want to seek these things. Meanwhile Ephesians 2:8 is coming to my mind strongly, presently, as I type this.

 

[FutureAndAHope]

Hello! I have struggled with this doubt for years now. I wonder every now and then if I'm saved or not. I accepted Christ as my savior when I was a little girl. But years since then, my family has stopped going to church regularly for one reason or another. I struggle with stopping bad habits and certain sins. I wonder about how much fruit of the Spirit I produce. I've been reading the Bible a bit more than I used to, but I need to know if there is anything else I can do? Maybe a Bible plan I can follow, or articles to read. I need help to remove these doubts that cloud my mind. So thank you all and God bless!

Jesus told his disciples, "pray that you enter not into temptation, for the flesh is weak, but the spirit willing"

In even simpler language this could be written as:

"pray often, by doing this you will gain strength over sin, and temptation, for left to ourselves our sinful nature dominates, but if we live in communion with God His holy spirit will en-fuse us with strength."

The bible else where says "live in the Spirit and you will not give in to the desires of the flesh".

To keep strong in the LORD, spend a decent amount of time in prayer and bible reading each day.

By gaining power over your sin, your assurance will increase. But it is not even ultimately your sinlessness that saves you but the blood of Jesus. A righteous life, given for our life time of failings.