FOUNDATION OF FAITH PART III

Blessed Sunday For EveryoneCAN WE BE SURE OF OUR SALVATION?

One day a young woman asked for prayer. She told me that when she accepted Christ as her Savior she had felt so wonderful, so full of joy. Now she didn't feel that way and wanted to know why she had "lost her salvation." We know that we are not saved by feeling, but by taking God at His Word. If we have met the conditions that the Bible gives us for salvation, we must believe we are saved no matter what we feel. The Holy Spirit can speak this assurance to our hearts also. We can find reassurance from our brothers and sisters in Christ. too, like my friend did the day she came to me. "We know that we have left death and come over into life: we know it because we love our brothers" (I John 3:14). Perhaps you have heard Christians use the words justification and sanctification. What do these mean? Justification is being free from sin, made righteous. It is a result of salvation. God forgives our sin, takes away all guilt, and says that we are now righteous--just as if we had never done anything wrong. Romans 5:1 tells us, "Now that we have been put right with God through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Being put right with God is justification. Sanctification means being made holy, that is, clean from sin and dedicated to God. "May the God who gives us peace make you holy in every way and keep your whole being--spirit, soul, and body--free from every fault at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (I Thessalonians 5:23). God wants all Christians to be sanctified, made holy. "God wants you to be holy and completely free from sexual immorality" (1 Thessalonians 4:3). "Try to be at peace with everyone, and try to live a holy life, because no one will see the Lord without it" (Hebrews 12:14). There is another point that should be touched upon while talking of the results of Jesus' death on the cross. This is divine healing. Divine healing was included in the benefits Jesus bought for us on Calvary. Many people brought to Jesus had demons in them. Jesus drove out the evil spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. He did this to make come true what the prophet Isaiah had said, "He himself took our sickness and carried away our diseases" (Matthew 8:16-17). "We are healed by the punishment he suffered, made whole by the blows he received"

(Isaiah 53:5). Divine healing is the supernatural power of God bringing health to the human body.

In (James 5:14-15) tells us how we can claim this healing: "Is there anyone who is sick? He should send for the church elders, who will pray for him and rub olive oil on him in the name of the Lord. This prayer made in faith will heal the sick person; the Lord will restore him to health, and the sins he has committed will be forgiven."

VERSE OF THE WEEK

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

- Ephesians 2:8-9

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

- Titus 2:11-14