Monday, December 2, 2013

Confident Faith

Today is the first day in our 48th week, reading the Bible through in a year.  Our scriptures this week are:

  •  Zech 9-11; 1 John 5
  •  Zech 12-14; 2 John; Psalm 94
  •  Ezra 5-6; 3 John; Psalm 95
  •  Esther 1-3; Rev 1; Psalm 139
  •  Esther 4-6; Rev 2
Sometimes I'll ask people if know for sure, whether or not they're saved.  Often I get answers like, "I hope I'm saved," or "I think I'm saved."  There seems to be some element of doubt in their mind as to whether or not the Lord has called them His own.

Today, I want to reassure you that if you've placed your trust in Jesus, you can know that you're saved.  1 John 5:13-15 (ESV) says:

13 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. 14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

When you trust God for your salvation, it's not a "maybe" or a "might be" proposition.  You can have complete confidence that you are saved.  

Sometimes I'll ask people whether they know that God hears and answers their prayers.  Often I'll get shrugs or "I guess so."  But in this same passage, John assures us that God both hears and answers our prayers.

As you grow closer in your relationship with Jesus, you'll begin to discern God's will.  You'll find your prayers answered in the positive more and more often--not because God is listening to you more, but because you've grown intimate enough with God to discern His will.  So, praying for things that are already God's will means that your prayers will be answered.  Prayer isn't a matter of convincing God to do our will.  It's a matter of discerning His will and praying in accordance with what God already wants to do.  It's a matter of getting ourselves in line with God--and then lending our prayer support to what God is already doing.

God doesn't want His people to have a "guess so" or "maybe" relationship with Him.  He wants you to know that you're saved, to be fully confident that He hears and answers your prayers.  Today, I pray that you will develop such a closeness with God that you never doubt where you stand with Him.



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