“Our Daily Bread”   http://odb.org/2012/08/07/heavenly-exclamation/

The Daily Devotions of Greg Laurie                                  http://www.harvest.org/devotional/daily-devotions/home.ht

1 John 5:13… These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.  (NKJV)

Becoming a Christian can only occur after a non-believer is drawn in by God (John 6:44), and then graced by God with the free gift of salvation, after the gospel of Christ is understood and obeyed…

I have spent a couple of days writing on what saving faith is all about… Yesterday I quoted scripture revealing that salvation is a mystery to the lost (Colossians 1:26), that God reveals to His children after they are in-dwelt with the Holy Spirit when they become Christians… Colossians 1:27…  To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.  (NKJV)

So why does any Christian ever doubt that they have received salvation, God’s free gift of grace through saving faith alone in Jesus Christ ??  The opening scripture says that Christians should “know” they have eternal life with God; and that God has reserved a room in His mansion for them in heaven (John 14:1-4)…

Any doubt a person has believing they are a Christian, is because they don’t have the absolute assurance the Holy Spirit will give them, when He is in total control of the Christians life… When a Christian is walking with the Lord, allowing the Holy Spirit to permeate every facet of their lives…there should be absolutely no doubt in their mind that they have been graced by God with salvation…

I posted this scripture yesterday… 1 John 2:3-6… Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. ⁴ He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. ⁵ But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. ⁶ He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.  (NKJV)

Notice in verse 5 above…that the Christian that keeps God’s Word, has “the love of God”… “perfected in him”…  To me, this means that the Christian is filled with the love of Christ, and therefore filled with the Holy Spirit…  The apostle John then goes on to write this… “By this we know that we are in Him.”   Being“in Christ”, means the same as Christ living with-in you… Jesus tells us this, in…

John 15:5-6… “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”  (NKJV)

I wrote a little earlier, that it is the Holy Spirit that gives the Christian the assurance that they are “in Christ”… I base this statement from scripture found right before the opening scripture…1 John 5:10-12… He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. ¹¹ And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. ¹² He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.  (NKJV)

Now the opening scripture makes more sense…1 John 5:13… These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.  (NKJV)

Heavenly Father, I for one am so blessed to have total assurance from the Holy Spirit, that You have reserved a room for me in Your mansion in heaven…  I pray Lord, that any Christian, who doubts their salvation, will be given hope through God’s Word, that assurance is absolutely possible…  I pray Lord, that as readers see the benefits of what being filled with the Holy Spirit will bring to the life of the Christian (like an absolute peace above and beyond our own mortal understanding…Philippians 4:6-7)…that more readers will seek to become Spirit filled, as they confess and repent of any and all sins (1 John 1:9)… I pray for this “perfected” heart, filled with Christ’s love, for all of us…in Jesus’ most precious name and for His sake…Amen…

written by bruce r mills