Christ + _____ = death

“For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:19-20)

These are two of the most important verses in the bible and should God lead you to; please memorize and meditate upon them continually. Ask the Lord to reveal to you the truth contained within them.  Why are they so important? Because within them lies the crux of the gospel and the means by which the Christian life is lived.

Paul wrote these words (and all of Galatians) to combat the lies that the Judaizers were propagating. The Judaizers taught that Christ alone was not enough. They taught Christ plus — that is,  Christ plus the law. Christ plus outward ceremony. But Christ plus anything equals death.  It is not the gospel and will eventually wear you out. Paul’s great desire was to teach Christians the good news that (1) Christ died for us, (2) when we place our faith in him we are justified before God (the slate is clean), (3) Christ takes up residence within us by the Holy Spirit and lives the Christian life through us, (4) we can trust him to lead us and guide us as our Life. If we were to paraphrase Galatians 2:20 we might say, “I live, but I don’t live; Christ lives in me. And I want you to know the same is true for you.”

But this seems scary to some people. It seems too risky. The law seems safer because at least then we know where the boundaries are.  The problem is, that’s not what the New Testament teaches about the law.  Paul tells us in verse 19 that the laws brings death. The law is designed to cause me to despair before God, seeing my sinfulness and inability to be holy, and therefore to turn to a Savior. The law tells me what I should do, but cannot do. When I accept Christ, I die to myself as the means of being righteous. I die to myself as the locus of my life.  I die to my false notion that I can somehow attain right standing before God based upon what I do.  And when I turn to Christ, he becomes my life.  He regenerates my spirit within me — not by making a better me, but by placing himself within me.  He takes up residence within me so that I now live from a new center —  his life.  I now have a new power source. I have a new “true north”.   I have God within me teaching and shaping and transforming me into the likeness of his Son.  He speaks to me and directs my steps.  It is now by Christ’s life within me that I live.  What an amazing gift from God — He did this for me because of his great love. He knew I couldn’t, so He did it for me…He gave himself for me!  And he gave himself to me!  Thanks be to God!

Beware of a Mixed Gospel

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel — not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.” (Galatians 1:6-7)

Paul’s letter to the Galatians was written to show that the believer in Christ is no longer under the Mosaic law as a means of obtaining right standing before God, but is instead saved by grace alone through faith. Paul writes in chapter 5, “It is for freedom that Christ has set you free. Therefore stand firm,” (5:1). Christ’s death on the cross purchases freedom for the Christian; freedom from the law’s demands and it’s curse, freedom from the wrath of God, freedom from the fear of death, freedom from the tyranny of sin and the domination of the self-life, freedom from the world,  freedom to approach God, freedom to be indwelt and guided by the Holy Spirit in the new birth, freedom to love God and serve Him with a glad and willing heart as the Holy Spirit grows Christ’s character in us.  All of this freedom comes not from the efforts of the believer, but through the cross of Christ.  Any “version” of Christianity that is not cross-focused is not Christ’s Christianity.  Jesus was not merely our guide or example. He came to be our Savior. And he saved us through his death.

Following his establishment of the church in Galatia, certain “Judaizers” came around and began to teach the Galatians that salvation was actually by works (what you do). It wasn’t that these teachers were denying that Jesus had died upon the cross; however, they added to (or perverted) the gospel by saying that justification also required circumcision and keeping the law. These false teachers confused the people by denying Paul’s apostleship; saying that the reason Paul didn’t teach them these “doctrines” was that he was a false apostle who had obtained his teachings from other people. Paul flatly denied their accusations declaring that he was a true apostle, “not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father,” (1:). He also said that he received the gospel that he preached, not from other people, “but through a revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1:12).

Paul gives the sternest of warnings both to the Christian who would turn away from Christ by adopting “works” as a means of righteousness and also to the those who would change the gospel: “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel — not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.” (1:6-8)

Are you in the faith?

“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith.  Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? – Unless indeed you fail to meet the test.”  (2 Corinthians 13:5)

In this second letter to the Corinthians, Paul has defended himself against the accusations that he is a false apostle and therefore not of Jesus Christ. As he ends his letter, he gently but firmly turns the spotlight back on to the Corinthians themselves.  “Test yourselves,” he says.  He does not want them to be deceived by anyone and therefore he advises them to use every means to know where they really stood spiritually.  He was admonishing them to discern whether they had assurance of their salvation.

And how would they know this?  The two criteria that Paul offers for their examination: (1) Are you “in the faith”?  and (2) Is “Jesus Christ in you”?

To be in the faith is to believe that Jesus Christ died to forgive you your sins and that God raised him from the dead for your justification.  The faith centers on the person and work of Jesus Christ.  He was both God and man. He lived a perfect life under the Law and died a substitutionary death (in your place) to make atonement (to cover over and pay) for sin. He is the only way to salvation and through trust in his name, his character, his person, you become both a child of God and righteous in God’s sight.

To have Jesus Christ in you is to have the Holy Spirit within.  The only way for the Holy Spirit to be within you is to have placed your faith in Jesus Christ (see point 1 above) and thus been born again.  Unless the Holy Spirit has given you new life from God, then you are still dead in your sin and trespasses.  When the Holy Spirit is in you, you begin to see the fruit (evidence) of his presence in your life.

And a few more thoughts about what not to rely upon for assurance of salvation. Do not rely on the fact that you once raised your hand, walked down an aisle or “Asked Jesus into your heart.”  Do not rely upon the fact that you are a member of a church.  Joining the church saves no one. Joining Christ saves you. So examine your standing. Do not trust in a past experience.  Live for today.  (“Well, I used to believe…” does not cut it). Do you have love for Christ now? Do you have faith in Christ now? Do not place your trust in your baptism. Place your trust in the Lord Jesus to whom your baptism points. Do not trust in the fact that you know the liturgy of the church by rote. Going through the motions of the faith does not mean necessarily that you are in the faith itself.  Instead ask yourself what the motives are that you have for being at Church. Is it to love God and worship Christ with a thankful heart?

Here are a few other things to look at to test your motives: Has the Holy Spirit witnessed His reality that you belong to Him (Rom. 8:14-16).  Do you love to think of and engage with Christ? Do you love to talk to Him (pray)? (BTW – don’t mistake love for warm feelings. It will at times include warmth of feeling for sure. However, commitment and solidness are better indicators). Do you love to study God’s Word (so that you are growing in your relationship with Him)? Do you love the Church? Do you love your Christian brothers and sister? Do you seek to serve Christ with your life (not simply for an hour on Sunday)? Do you see the fruit of the Spirit growing in you (love, joy, peace, etc – see Galatians 5:22-23)? Are you seeing godly virtues increase in your life (2 Peter 1:3-11)? Do you hate sin when God reveals it within you and quickly run to Christ for pardon and cleansing?

As Paul said, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith.  Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?”

How to be incredibly strong

“For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians

You will likely never find a best-selling book with the title, “How to be weak!” or “5 Steps to Being Weaker” or “Weakness for Dummies.”  Very few would buy such books because, frankly, few Americans (that I know) are interested in weakness.  Are you?  It’s not at all what we are raised to aspire to. Just walk around your local bookstore in the self-help section and you’ll find lots of books about strength (inner, physical, and social), power, getting ahead in life, self-confidence, and self-exaltation.  And yet the greatest apostle, Paul, the writer of the majority of the New Testament said, “I will not boast, except of my weaknesses,” (verse 5).  This seems so counter-intuitive to us, doesn’t it?

And yet, the path to being incredibly strong spiritually is through weakness.  It’s not that weakness is good in itself.  No, things like, “weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities,” (verse 10) are often the result of other people’s sin toward us.  These things are often evil so it’s not that we are to aspire to them, or hope for them, or even want them. (Paul didn’t –He said, “I prayed three times for him to take it away!”). However, it is in the midst of these situations that two things happen.

First, we learn to rely, not on ourselves and our natural abilities, but on Christ who gives us his strength.  It is when I come to the end of me and what I can accomplish or figure out that I discover the surpassing greatness of Jesus.  It is when I am unable and unfit that I experience his grace and power (verse 9). It is when I am at the end of my rope that I discover He has me in the palm of his hand.  It is when I do not have the power to deliver or heal or preach that I experience his Spirit working through me to accomplish the things that I in my own strength could never do.  You see, that’s when the supernatural becomes natural. That’s when Christ’s power rests upon me (verse 9).  That’s when the Holy Spirit operates most freely through me.

Second, we become like Jesus. God actually uses hardship to shape within us the image of his Son.  He conforms us to the image of Christ through the difficulties we face. You see,  I would never know the godly quality of forgiveness if I did not have to learn to forgive others like Christ does.  I would not know what it is to love as God does, unless I have to deal with the unlovely.  I would never understand the heart beat of the Father unless I have to deal with ungrateful and discontented people. I would never know the compassion of Jesus without facing the reality of fidgety, fickle and fearful folks around me.  And I wouldn’t know patience without having to be patient.  Hardship allows the Holy Spirit to shape and mold us and to imprint within our spirit’s the nature and reality of Jesus.

So, to be incredibly strong you have to seek Christ in the midst of your hardships and weakness.  Instead of avoiding them or numbing them or seeking to quickly fix or hide them, why get still before the Lord and ask him how he is using them in your life.  You might just discover that, “when you weak, then you are strong.”

 

A Noise and Four Lepers

Elisha said, “Hear the word of the LORD: thus says the LORD, Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.” Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned said to the man of God, “If the LORD himself should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” (2Kings 7:1-2)

When God says something, it will come to pass. Such is the testimony of Scripture from cover to cover. But sadly, many will not believe Him and will not learn to trust his word.  Many will not learn to listen to the Voice of God and live.  Many will miss his great salvation. So it was for the King’s captain who could not fathom that within 24 hours God could entirely change the fortune of the city.

The Syrian king had besieged the capital until there was very little food; even the worst food was selling at outrages prices. Some people had even resorted to cannibalism. In desperation, wicked King Jehoram sent a messenger to Elisha to receive a word from the Lord.  Elisha predicted that by the next day Samaria would be delivered and there would be plenty to eat.  In essence, Elisha said they would be able to buy six times the food at one-fifth of the cost. To this incredible Good News of deliverance, the king’s messenger responded in utter unbelief. And so the prophet declared judgment upon the man.  And judgment did come to pass when the man was trampled by the crowd. The principle still holds: those who will not respond to the good news of deliverance and salvation that the Lord offers us by his sheer grace and love, will not only miss out on that salvation, but also will face death and judgment.

And how did God deliver the city?  With a great army?  With an earthquake? With a supernatural fire from heaven?  No.  He delivered them in a seemingly foolish way:  with a noise and four lepers!  The Syrians thought a vast army of hired mercenaries was coming upon them. So they fled, leaving behind the vast resources of their camp.  Logically, the four lepers realized that it was better to eat as prisoners (or die rapidly) than to starve in the city.  And so they discovered the deliverance of the Lord.

Listen to their words in verse 9: “This day is a day of good news. If we are silent and wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come; let us go and tell the king’s household.” What an amazing word to us today! Would that we would heed their words and do likewise — that is, to declare the good news of God’s deliverance to those who are still captive and starving in the city (the world)!  Through the foolishness of a cross, God has made deliverance and life available to all who will receive it. May we not hold back and so miss the call of God on each of our lives to announce good news and to be ministers of reconciliation to a lost and broken world.

God’s Amazing Healing Power

“And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, ‘Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.’ But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, ‘Behold I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper,’ (2 kings 5: 10-11).

Initially, Naaman did not receive Elisha’s healing directive.  It was his pride and presumption that got in the way.  Naaman had an idea in his mind as to how God should heal him and when that healing was an indirect and delayed method, rather than a flashy and immediate method, he almost missed out on the miracle power of God. Thankfully, Naaman listened to wise counsel and repented by obeying the prophet’s humility-oriented directives.  As such Naaman’s flesh was restored to that of a child’s.

God’s ways of healing are not unreasonable.  However, they move us beyond our proud reason to the simplicity and humility of receiving his love with child-like trust.  Just as the method of healing is God’s doing, so also the timing is his too. He has amazing healing power.  And He has the most amazing heart of love.

I saw this recently in India. We went to pray for tuberculosis patients at an ashram run by the Sisters of Charity.  It was an extraordinary place and as we entered it was like moving from black and white into full technicolor.  It reminded me of the scene in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy first stepped out of the dreariness of Kansas and into the vibrancy of Munchkinland.  The color and sense of God’s kind presence were that tangible.

Anyway, we sang worship songs and prayed for the tuberculosis patients.  Then the Sister who was serving as our guide mentioned there were several patients who could not come to where we were because they were either too sick or unable to walk. She asked if a couple of us would mind going with her to pray for them.  So one of the women and I agreed and followed her to the upstairs of the compound. We prayed for several very sick patients.  And then she brought us to a woman who was not a TB patient.

This woman had been hit by a train. The nuns had found her left for dead on the side of the tracks several months before.  She had no memory of who she was or where her family lived. She had trouble speaking.  She also had a vertically running divot in her forehead that was about four inches long and at least two inches deep.  Lastly, her legs didn’t work. The broken bones had healed, but they had healed poorly and were terribly mangled.  The doctors had given up hope that she would walk again.

We began to pray for her. It was clear to me that she was responding to the prayer but we had no idea in what way.  She grunted and gestured and then a child-like peace came over her. We simply prayed for God’s love to meet her in her aloneness and to heal her body.  The prayer wasn’t particularly elaborate; nor were there any “spiritual fireworks” that went off.  It didn’t appear to us that anything much had changed.  But we thanked the Lord for his goodness and mercy and healing power anyway.  Then we left.

I just found out yesterday that God healed that woman’s legs.  She can walk again.  Her healing happened the day after we left.  She simply stood up and started walking around the facility. There was incredulity on the part of the doctors and many of the other patients.  The sisters rejoiced and gave thanks to the Lord.  And God’s amazing healing power was put on display. His tender heart of love manifested for a lonely person in a desperate situation.  Know this: God is a God of healing.  And his heart is a heart of love.  But his ways are not our ways and his timing is not our timing.  Let’s decide to trust his heart of love for each of us and also to be willing to pray for those who sick and in need of his touch.

“And as she poured they brought the vessels to her,” (2Kings 4:5)

This morning’s reading from 2 Kings reminded me of my recent trip to India. We were ministering in a place called Raniganj. I had just taught on the infilling and overflow of the Holy Spirit.  Following my teaching, the people came forward for prayer. My daughter Caroline and I were one of about 5 prayer teams. As the people came to us, there was a powerful anointing of the Holy Spirit upon us.  As we laid our hands on each person, and prayed that they would be filled with the Holy Spirit, one-by-one they fell to the ground.  Their “vessels” were completely full. My daughter and I had to keep moving over because there were bodies on the floor all around us.  The people were experiencing an extraordinary outpouring of grace.  I remember thinking that they were vessels full of oil.  As we poured, more came.  As we poured, more were filled.  The outpouring did not stop until the people stopped coming.

Just as in the case of the widow, God provided abundantly for the people of Raniganj. Remember that oil in Scripture is one of the emblems of the Holy Spirit. God filled the widow’s vessels and the filling didn’t cease until the vessels stopped coming.  So also in Raniganj. God filled the people’s vessels and the filling didn’t ceases until the people stopped coming.  So it is with us. God will fill your life as you come to him. God will pour out through you as you are willing to pray for others.  Is your vessel full of oil?  Why not ask him to fill you anew today? Why not pour out to others who are in need of his infilling today?

How Important is Obedience?

“By the word of the LORD one of the sons of the prophets said to his companion, ‘Strike me with your weapon,’ but the man refused. So the prophet said, ‘Because you have not obeyed the LORD, as soon as you leave me a lion will kill you.’ And after the man went away, a lion found him and killed him. (1 Kings 20 20;35-36).

Obedience to God is incredibly important! For the man in 1 Kings, disobedience to the express word of the Lord through the prophet cost him his life.  His disobedience led to him being devoured by a lion! It may seem harsh to us, but the principle that is being demonstrated here is that the flesh and the Spirit are at war with one another.  The flesh — that is, the natural man — cannot and will not yield to the Holy Spirit.  The flesh will always seek an easier way than the way of the Lord. The flesh will always try to figure out what makes sense, rather than obey what the Spirit commands. In the book of Romans we read: “ For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God,” (Romans 8:5-8).

Similarly we see the flesh at work in King Ahab. When Ahab let his enemy King Ben-Hadad go (following all the trouble the Arameans had inflicted upon the Israelites), God pronounced judgment on Ahab. The prophet declared, “This is what the LORD says: ‘You have set free a man I had determined should die. Therefore it is your life for his life, your people for his people,” (1King 20:42). Ahab was a wicked king who continually disobeyed the Lord. God helped Ahab destroy the Aramean army to prove to Ahab and to the enemies of Israel that He alone was God. When Ahab failed to destroy the king, his greatest enemy, God said “Enough!” to Ahab’s disobedience.

So how important is obedience? It is of the utmost importance!  It is paramount to living life in the Spirit. God takes great delight in the person who will trust Him and walk in obedience to what He says.  1Samuel 15:22 reads: And Samuel said,“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.”  Obedience to what God says is pleasing to Him. Listening to his Voice and following is crucial to God’s plan and purposes being carried out through our lives.

Now don’t confuse obedience to the Voice of God with obeying the Law. Obedience to the Voice has to do with intimate, Spirit-led relationship.  Trying to obey the Law is a means of seeking to be in right standing before God through self-effort.  You can’t do it and no one will be declared righteous before God based upon their works. We are saved by grace through faith. But having believed, the Lord begins to write his Law upon our hearts.  He begins to change our perspective so that we desire to do that which he word commands.  And he provides the power and ability to carry it out.

Christian obedience is not about going back under the Law as a means of obtaining righteousness.  Christian obedience is about trusting and yielding to the Holy Spirit who leads, guides and transforms.  Christian obedience is about allowing Christ to live his life through us so that he can accomplish his purposes in our lives and in the lives of others.  Learning to yield to the Spirit is a mark of Christian maturity.  BTW — when you fall short and disobey, simply repent and return to the Lord and allow the blood of Jesus Christ to wash you and cleanse you anew.   May I encourage you to make it your ongoing prayer, “Holy Spirit, teach me to hear your Voice and put within me the desire to walk according to it.  Give me the will and the ability to obey what you command, that Jesus might be glorified. Amen.”

Hearing God’s Voice

“But the Lord was not in the wind… but the Lord was not in the earthquake… but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire [a sound of gentle stillness and] a still, small voice.” (1 Kings 19:11-12 Amplified)

1 Kings 19 has been one of the most important verses for me in my relationship with the Lord.  It was through this story of God speaking to Elijah in the “still small voice” that my understanding of the Lord grew. I started to desire that I, too, would be able to hear him speak and I began to learn how he communicates with his people. You see, God’s Voice is gentle and comes as an internal whisper or a nuanced intuition. The noisy and busy will never learn to hear it. It takes a willingness to be still and know him; to give him focused time and attention. And it takes some training to listen for this Voice because, in the words of A.W. Tozer, “we have trained our ears not to hear.”

This verse was especially important for me because in my first few years of walking with Christ, I thought God’s Voice could only be heard in the words of Scripture.  I believe with all my heart that the Bible is God’s Word — his clear revelation of himself and that the Scriptures contain all things necessary for salvation. I do not look to other ‘sacred’ books from other faiths. I look to the Scriptures because, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work,” (2 Tim 3:16-17).  I always tell people that if you want to know God, you must spend time in the Scriptures!

However, I had made the mistake of limiting God’s speaking Voice to His Book.  In other words I had come to believe that God could only speak via the exact words of the bible. Thus, I had limited the God who spoke all existence into being and as such had subtly twisted what the scripture actually points to: that the real God is a relational and speaking God.  Not that He spoke, but that He speaks. Jesus warned the Pharisees in John 5: “You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is they that bear witness to me, yet you refuse to come to me that you might have life.”  In other words, the Scriptures point to Jesus who gives life.  The scriptures themselves do not give life.  It is Jesus who speaks through the scriptures to reveal himself to us. And it is the Holy Spirit who speaks to our hearts to teach us and remind us of the words of Jesus. God is not limited to his book.  However, when God speaks it will never contradict what He has already said in the scripture.  Thus knowing the scripture is key to discerning whether what we are hearing is the Lord, ourselves, or our enemy. Usually the way it works for me is that I read the scriptures until the Lord speaks to my heart.

I love how Tozer describes hearing God’s Voice in his book The Pursuit of God.  He writes: “It is important that we get still to wait on God. And it is best that we get alone, preferably with our Bible outspread before us. Then if we will we may draw near to God and begin to hear Him speak to us in our hearts. I think for the average person the progression will be something like this: First a sound as of a Presence walking in the garden. Then a voice, more intelligible, but still fare from clear. Then the happy moment when the Spirit begins to illuminate the Scriptures, and that which had been only a sound, or at best a voice, now becomes an intelligible word, warm and intimate and clear as the word of a dear friend. Then will come life and light, and best of all, ability to see and rest in and embrace Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and All.”  Happy listening…

 

 

Guaranteed

“He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.” (2 Corinthians 5:5)

“How can I be sure I belong to God? How can I know that I am his? How can I know that I am going to heaven? Is it even possible to be sure about our status before God?” As a pastor I have heard these questions numerous times in a variety of forms over the course of the years. Usually, the question is asked by very sincere Christian people who have yet to enter into the assurance that they belong to God. Maybe you’re like them, too?  Still wondering? Unsure?

To help clear up the confusion I ask a couple of questions.  First I ask, “Do you know whether or not your are physically alive?”  The answer is always, “Yes.”  “How do you know?”  They usually answer, “I am breathing, my heart is beating, I am conscious, We’re talking right now, etc.”

“Good,” I say, “So there’s proof. There’s evidence. Your aliveness is measurable/demonstrable.  And you are aware of it. Additionally, I am an outside witness to your aliveness. I can verify that you’re alive.”  And then I will reach over and pinch them lightly. “Did you experience that?” I ask.  “Ouch and yes” are always the answers.

“Good,” I say, “Therefore it stands to reason that if you can know with certainty that you are physically alive; so also you can know whether you are spiritually alive. So how do you know whether you are spiritually alive?”

And then a blank look ensues.

I ask, “Do you believe Jesus Christ died for your salvation? Do you look to him alone for your right standing before God? Do you believe God raised him from the dead for your justification? Have you yielded to his Lordship of your life?”

If they say, “Yes,” to these questions, then I run them through any number of Scriptures to give them outside assurance. For instance in our reading today in 2 Corinthians 5, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself…that is in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their sins against them,” (verse 17-19). “Do you believe what the Scripture says?” I ask.

If they say, “Yes,” I ask them to spend some time over the next couple of weeks until we meet again reading and re-reading Scripture pertaining to salvation.  I know that the Holy Spirit will give them witness and peace if they will do this.

Then I ask them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’ Usually they are uncertain.  I read them the verse above (2 cor 5:5). “God has given us his Spirit as a guarantee.”

I explain that a guarantee is an assurance.  God’s assurance that we belong to him is the gift of himself, the Holy Spirit, whom he places in us when we believe.  The Holy Spirit is a person and as a person he speaks, thinks, leads, guides, etc. (and always in conjunction with and affirmation of the scriptures).  Romans 8 says, “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” (Romans 8:14-16).

I tell them to spend the next couple of weeks until we meet again speaking to God in the following way:  “Address him only as Abba, Papa or Daddy God (no matter how awkward it may feel at first).  Every day ask the Holy Spirit to testify to you that you are one of God’s children because of your faith in Jesus Christ. Ask him to show you whether you are spiritually alive.”  I know that if they will do this the Holy Spirit will show them, in the way of his choosing and in a way unique to them, that they belong to God.  Invariably, when they come back to see me they come back assured.  By the way, this will work for you too, if you do not yet have assurance…. guaranteed!