Need advice, am I really saved?

[buckthesystem]

About an hour ago I said much the same as I am going to say here, on the thread "do we have a responsibility for others?".

Anyway, I thought it would be more appropriate if I put this on another thread altogether. It might get more attention. Would someone please point it out to me if it is not acceptable though, to repeat things like this, I really don't want to annoy anyone!!

I have been thinking about this a lot lately and I seem to be unfairly blaming something that "50cdog" said on the other thread, but it is just that he used the "right" words. "50c Dog" was saying that his father thought of himself as a Christian but only had "head knowledge". I saw this and saw something in myself as well, I "only have head knowledge" too. Nothing else to go by that tells me that God is in my life, only my saying that he is. How arrogant is that?

I have read of, listened to and heard of other peoples' testimonies of "dramatic conversions" and some other have heard God "speak" to them as surely as if he was next to them. I have prayed and spoken to God, but he has never talked back to me. Things have happened that I have put down to "God's intervention", but I have suddenly thought that maybe that was an aberration.

Nearly three years ago we had a family business that failed. We had to sell the house we'd lived in for 25 years and we moved, eventually to this town where we have been able to get another house and find work and hopefully will settle for ever. Just after we realised that we had to move, we both wanted to live "out in the sticks" so we bought a caravan, left our youngest with my sister and moved "down south" and lived "out in the sticks" (or as far "out in the sticks" as you can get in NZ that is). Just before we left I parked my car in the driveway and walked behind the car, it rolled backward knocking me over and badly burned my leg and back. It was totally my fault as I took the car out of gear and didn't pull up the handbrake before walking behind it to check the mail box. This meant that I couldn't just leap into finding work right away, I had to get over the accident. Anyway, while we were in our caravan with our dog and cat, my husband spent most of his time fishing and I had a lot of time on my hands to read books. I had read my mother's "journal" about how she became a Christian and how wonderful it was which I had found when we were packing up to sell the house. The journal had lain in a draw for 23 years before that but I didn't even get to finish it because the pages were mistakenly used for packing because I stupidly left it with a pile of scrap paper.

Reading this had inspired me to seek out a number of books on Christianity, and eventually the Bible. This is the only reason that I decided to become a Christian. I had just finished reading one book in particular and I looked up and said to myself "it is all true".

So, after that I sought out a church, but realised that we still had to "be real" and find work. My husband is an electrician but hadn't worked as one for a while, he applied for a job on the "off chance" in this town - even though we'd never been here before and had no connection with it - and he got the job and fitted in with it "as if it was made for him". The firm even rented us a house for cheap. I, on the other hand, "couldn't settle" and went through four jobs (each for about five months, and then resigning) until I found this one that seems to be OK. We have managed to buy another house now (even though we're going to have to work until we're 90 to pay the mortgage) and our youngest has also found work here and moved in with us. I thanked the H/S for providing all that and helping us. Yet suddenly my life experiences seem so incredibly trivial and I am wondering if God is really there or if I have made the whole thing up to "rationalise" things in my own mind.

Please help anyone as your opinions and/or idea would be really appreciated right now.

[other one]

that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; 1

NASB

If you have made Jesus your Lord, and confessed to others that you have done so, and believe that the Father raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. It is as simple (and not so simple) as that. It is east to say that you have made Jesus your Lord, but is it true...... only you and He can know that so no one else can really tell you that.

If you have, then He is working in your life to make you what He wants you to be....... If you have not and just said so, it is my belief that he will interfere in your life to bring you to Him if you really want that. Again, no way for any others to really know.

It is my experience that if you are concerned with it that most likely your saved and Lucifer is trying to wreck your life. The Lord will allow tests to happen to make you grow, even as He did with Job. In those cases we are to get through it and grow from it and be happy He cares enough to make us grow.

Just my two cents,

Sam

[GodsJul]

(((I have been thinking about this a lot lately and I seem to be unfairly blaming something that "50cdog" said on the other thread, but it is just that he used the "right" words. "50c Dog" was saying that his father thought of himself as a Christian but only had "head knowledge". I saw this and saw something in myself as well, I "only have head knowledge" too. Nothing else to go by that tells me that God is in my life, only my saying that he is. How arrogant is that?)))

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have just listened to a sermon from my church that answers your question. Since the sermon is an hour long, and we are blessed to live in a high tec world...LOL... I'll pass the site along and let G-D do the rest

Thank you for posting this question....I'm sure you are NOT alone in this thought.

http://www.harvestbible.com/Content.aspx?content_id=40

Love in our Risen Savior,

Julia AKA GodsJul

[Guest LadyC]

i remember for SO many years asking the same question you have asked here... i was filled with doubt and fear that maybe i wasn't truly saved. i had been brought up in a church that taught "once saved, always saved" and heard frequently from well-meaning church attenders that anyone who doesn't bear fruit, or anyone who has doubts about the security of their salvation, or those who keep repeating the same mistakes over and over and over again, weren't truly ever saved in the first place. i was always fearful God would turn me over to my "reprobate" mind.

it wasn't until i was in my mid or late 20s that i believe, through a lot of prayer and study of the Word, God revealed to me in a way that left me totally positive that God was still working in my life, and that i really was saved, and that i couldn't "lose" that gift of salvation, or have it stolen from me. the only way i could cease to be a child of God is if i willingly chose to reject Him. and i knew that no matter how far and fast i'd run from God over the years, i'd never chosen to reject Him since i'd received him as a pre-teen.

if you have, as was already posted here, accepted Christ by believing in your heart and confessing with your mouth that Jesus is the Son of the living God, who came to earth fully God and fully man, who died as a sacrifice for your sins and rose from the dead 3 days later, and is still alive today, if you believe and confess that He is Lord, then you are saved.

[backtobasics]

As others have said if you truely love him and have done as Ro 10:9 states you are saved. You are his! Period. Nothing can rip you from his arms. It's a heart thing. I like Isa 66:2 in this context also.

You'll hear sermons probably 10 to 1 about "doing". Not for salvation, mind you, but just about what you should "do" as a Christian. You hear about the fruits of the Spirit, and Love for others. All true to be sure, but worry about your heart first. The fruit of the spirit is just that . It results from his indewlling. If you have the kind of spirit and heart that God wants the fruits will follow.

God Bless!!

I pray your husband has a heart for God also. If he is a fisherman he is in good company.

[mike2]

Anyone can talk the talk

But you gotta walk the walk

May I suggest reading 1 Cor, all of it is pertinant.

When you start walking the walk as we read in Corinthians, especially with your accepting Jesus, you'll start to feel better about your salvation

[darkest_red]

I have read of, listened to and heard of other peoples' testimonies of "dramatic conversions" and some other have heard God "speak" to them as surely as if he was next to them. I have prayed and spoken to God, but he has never talked back to me. Things have happened that I have put down to "God's intervention", but I have suddenly thought that maybe that was an aberration.

I have had no "dramatic conversion". I was raised as a Christian and I believed it at a young age and haven't stopped believing it since. Some of my closest friends (whom I have known all my life and went to the same church as me) became Christians in the same way. It doesn't take a "dramatic conversion" to make you a Christian.

[cjrose]

Some people have conversions that are literally an emtional erruption meaning that in the blink of an eye, their life has changed as their beliefs. Coming into the light from a darkness they really didn't know was so dark until their conversion. As if a light was literally turned on the moment they truly believed that Jesus is our Savior.

For others the conversion is a slower process and happens gradually over time and one day you just "know" you are saved and everything you've ever done suddenly makes sense. What you didn't understand before, you understand now.

For me, I had one of those earth shaking experiences where I felt the Holy Spirit literally enter my body the moment I first believed and everything became clear to me. I expressed with my mouth to everyone I knew and everyone I didn't know that Jesus is my Lord and Savior. I repented and asked for forgivness for my sins.

That was a long time ago. I wish that I could feel that moment over and over again constantly but I needed that moment to give me confirmation that what I was feeling and beginning to believe was the truth. After that, even though I didn't "feel" the Holy Spirit, I continued to believe that I was saved. I learned that Faith is not a feeling but it is a fact. The expression "keep the faith" has a lot of meaning behind it. Faith is knowing the truth without seeing God and believing in His word and what His word tells us is that we are saved if we believe in His death and resurrection. We are saved if we continue to repent and ask for forgivness.

If you believe in His word, if you have Faith that God is our creator and is omni present, one in three, a God who loves us so much He gave His only Son so that we may have eternal life, if you have faith in Him then you can know that you are saved. In this world today as ugly as it can be with violence and death all around us, we need to go back to basics and remember that we have faith, that we gave ourselves to the Lord because of His goodness, kindness and His love, we can know that we are saved.

I may be redundant in my words but sometimes we must continually remind ourselves that God loves us so much and it's our faith that will see me through this life. And I look forward and I am so excited for my eternal life with Him that I try to make everyday here on earth count and try to do something kind for someone else, to take care of myself and my family and those who need my help also reminds me that I am saved.

Satan tries desperately to get me to turn away from God with temptations, lack of self esteem and self worth which has always been an issue for me. But God is always there to lift me up. Once He has you, He'll never let go unless you rebuke Him and all He says. We are all sinners but what is important is that we confess our sins and repent constantly because you never know at what moment He'll come back and rapture us. I for one want to be ready when that day comes and it's through my faith in His word that balances me and confirms my salvation. You can just know by His word and your faith that you are saved.

God Bless You,

Cjrose

[50_Cent's_dog]

Anyone can talk the talk

But you gotta walk the walk

May I suggest reading 1 Cor, all of it is pertinant.

When you start walking the walk as we read in Corinthians, especially with your accepting Jesus, you'll start to feel better about your salvation

I just want to add that you can not "walk the walk" unless Jesus is in your heart and you are living by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is impossible to "walk the walk" apart from the Holy Spirit. And just because a person isn't walking by the power of the Holy Spirit doesn't mean the person isn't saved. Maybe they are back slidden a little bit but the Holy Spirit is still working on the believers heart. (This is for Mike2 because I felt uncomfortable how it was worded.)

I hope that my e-mail made sense to you Buckthesystem