For those of us who struggle with assurance, for peace and rest in the Father’s arms, take heart. We can learn to have a thankful dependence when those dogged doubts threaten the air we breathe. I grow weary at my own fear and doubt. It brings me low and makes me ask why I cannot move past all the wrong thinking that persists.
What is one foundational thing we need to cultivate a thankful dependence on God, no matter the circumstance? We need assurance. To know that we are His and He is ours. He will never leave us or stop loving us. This love is ours for eternity. So why do we struggle to hang onto that truth? Why do we disqualify ourselves from His promises while trying desperately to believe them?
What’s one of the biggest lies of the enemy? He tells us that there is some sort of snag in our salvation that cancels our eternal inheritance in Christ and keeps our prayers from being heard. Our assurance is the one thing the enemy wants to take from us. You wouldn’t doubt if you were a true believer. Your anxiety and fear means you don’t have the Holy Spirit in you. A Christian wouldn’t say those things. You are too selfish to have the life of Christ in you. You’re not fully surrendered, so you can’t say you’re a follower of Christ. Etc, etc.
Our focus goes to our failures or difficult circumstances and seemingly unanswered prayers rather than to the cross where Jesus provided our righteousness and gave us the gift of eternity, new life. If we rely even an ounce on our own performance or on the way things seem in order to determine if we are truly saved, we have taken our eyes off of the only means of salvation – Jesus died to pay for our sins. It is in Him alone that we are saved. Let’s not fall for the tricks that tell us to focus on the outward appearances. Instead, let us never take our eyes off of our Savior and allow His love and Spirit to live through us and to change us.
Assurance is crucial because it determines our path, our focus, our worship and our freedom.
No matter what circumstance or set of circumstances that threatens to convince us that we are not His (because that’s where the wrong thinking happens – focus on negative things – past, present or future), we need to set new pathways in our thinking with the word of God and be set free from the lies of the enemy. Once we know that we are His, and have that confident assurance, there is nothing that can steal our thankful dependence, our joy, our salvation. But we have to KNOW.
We cannot depend on anything else. Many things in this life will not turn out how we wish or even how we have prayed. Our pastor always prays – Lord, if it be Your will – at the beginning of his requests. That always leaves an impression with me – he is willing to accept God’s will even if it is difficult. He knows that whatever the answer, God is good and God is love.
“Comfort is found by sinking our roots into the unseen reality of God’s ever-faithful love.” Paul Tripp, Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands
The apostle Paul writes about the terrible persecution they had suffered, believing they would die (2 Corinthians 1):
“…but this happened that we might not rely on ourselves, but on God…”
Lord, let us take comfort in knowing that our difficulties will bring us closer to You. May we never believe we are abandoned or disqualified, but that every hardship would grow our faith. If we didn’t need someone to intervene on our behalf, Jesus wouldn’t have had to go to the cross. When we dwell on our failures, let us be quick to turn our focus and be filled with joy that You love us so much that You made a way through Your only Son to save us. Let’s try to remember to not diminish that by ever thinking it was not enough. Let us rejoice over the good news of the gift of salvation and know that we are Yours. Amen.
I would love to hear from you.