Doubt?

I used to have doubts. Then I would mentally strip away everything I had doubts about and, inevitably, Jesus Christ was left. The reality of Him. Building up from that foundation does tend to erase doubts!

I'm 58 now, and I've been with the Lord for over 30 years. I can look back on what I was and what I am now and KNOW that His hand has been on me, changing me, guiding me, loving me. I KNOW that He will finish the good work He has started.

I often have doubts about myself now, but NEVER about Him or the fact that I have been rescued.

 

As Christians, we can know that we are spiritually saved. Our hope is for glory; it's for ruling and reigning in the coming Kingdom.

 

I've wondered about that, too, Bob. Let me throw out an idea -- and I don't mind if it is ripped to shreds as long as it is biblically ripped to shreds!...

In John 1 we read that those who believe will be adopted as sons (and, presumably, daughters) of the Lord, and thus become co-heirs with Christ.

What of those, like the babies and aborted little ones, who die before they can actually profess belief? They belong to the Lord and in my mind there is not the slightest shadow of a doubt about that. But are they adopted into the family as brothers and sisters, or are they at least some of whom we will reign over? And the angels, who are our servants (see Hebrews 1:14) -- will we reign over them?

We'll find out later what all this means, but in the meantime, as long as we don't make doctrine out of it, it is fun to wonder, isn't it?

 

I personally never believed that a person who believes he or she is saved, is not. If a person knows in his heart he is saved, then he is saved. I am sure Judas knew that he did believe Jesus was the messiah, because if he did believe that He was, then he would have never betrayed them.
I sometimes wonder deep down if I am good enough. I have to remind myself that no one is good enough and that is why Jesus died for all of us and saves those who accept Him and repent from their sins.

 

Helen, I don't know if you're adopted, but I understand that you have adopted children. I am adopted. That shaded my understanding of adoption, and I had to set aside my ideas and study what the word actually means and what the Scriptures actually say. Adoption is not being placed into the family; it's being placed into a position of son-ship.

 

One evening three weeks after I had said the sinner’s prayer following a Sunday night service, I was walking along the main street in a large city. And as I walked, suddenly and without warning, The Holy Spirit took hold of me and radically changed me in a matter of seconds and all of my old dreams and aspirations became as dung and my only dream and aspiration was to serve my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. From that moment on, I new that I was a new man in Christ Jesus and I have never doubted that fact.

 

I am happy to say neither I or my husband have ever doubted our salvation. Not that I don't sin or that I have never questioned his love for me, that's another story. But i know I am his and he will never leave me or foresake me, no matter what I do or how I feel.

1 JOHN 5:13 says "I have written these things unto you so that you may KNOW you have eternal life"

 

The bible says we will reign over the angels.

1 Corinthians 6:3 illustrates this point perfectly. Paul says, 'Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, matters of this life?'

 

I have no doubts anymore.

 

I have preached on this subject of Doubt and here are few points from that message:

1. Doubt is from the Holy Spirit
A. To convict about a need for Jesus
B. To reprove because if we are saved we should not be living in sin.

2. Doubt is from the Devil
A. To confuse us about what Christ says about everlasting life.
B. To distract us from serving Christ because we are focused too much on ourselves.

The answer is not to get saved again and not to focus on the doubts but to realize where doubts come from and then to take an accountability of our life or Christian walk.

CraigbytheSea: Interesting testimony! Are you saying that you were not a "new creature" when you prayed to accept Christ? Or that this transformation happened over a few week period?

 

Helen, I don't know if you're adopted, but I understand that you have adopted children. I am adopted. That shaded my understanding of adoption, and I had to set aside my ideas and study what the word actually means and what the Scriptures actually say. Adoption is not being placed into the family; it's being placed into a position of son-ship. </font>[/QUOTE]I think I understand what you are saying, but I never considered it to be a difference where my children are concerned (and no, I myself am not adopted). As adopted children, they are my sons and daughters and as my sons and daughters they are most certainly part of the family!

 

But, Biblically, being placed in a position of son-ship is a position of authority, not simply being put into the family. There were children of families that were placed into positions of son-ship at a later date. Son-ship is a position of authority, not familial relation, as we usually think of it when we adopt children.

 

Well, my authority is Christ Jesus, and except for any authority from Him, I have none. Yet I am still His sibling because of adoption!

 

That may be, but were you not also his sibling before placement? In other words, if you had two brothers who had not been yet been placed into a position of son-ship, were they not still siblings? Placement in a position of son-ship did not happen to young children, yet they were in the family.

What I am trying to say, is that when you were born from above, you were in the family, correct? So, why would you need to also be adopted in the modern sense of the word "adopted"?

It is from the word "huios" (son) and "thesis" (placement); it's placement into a position of authority. It's the process by which the chosen heir became not only an inheritor of the property (which was automatically given to anyone born into the family), but it passed along the civil status, burdens, and rights of the adoptor.

 

Doubt is a human emotion. The Christian is not exempt from these feelings. Certainly, we should not doubt and should be able by faith to rest on the finished work of Christ. However, there are so many things we should not do that we find ourselves doing.