Blessed Assurance Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! O what a fore-taste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of God, Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood. Fanny J. Crosby brings us this familiar hymn to life for us as we sing it we reflect upon the assurance, confidence, and bond we have with our God through Jesus Christ.  Christians are not positive wishful thinkers regarding the assurances given to them.  Christians are given multitudes of evidence that God can, does, and will keep His word though we can not fully understand how He does this.   Our assurance is based upon our present tense relationship with our God.  God holds us securely in his hand but we still have His gift of free will and we can be deceived where we can choose to let go, as He seeks to lead us in right paths.   Consider now the passage in 1 John 5:9-15.  Being in this world we do receive the witness of those in this world and we receive also the witness or testimony from God through Christ.  We must choose which witness is more reliable, more credible, and more trustworthy.  We are told that if we believe in the Son of God that we have the witness of God within ourselves.  Relationship and support are found in this idea.  However unbelievers or those who choose to have assurance through the superficial and temporary witness of this world make God out to be a liar in their rejection of the witness of God expressed through the Son and tragically do not possess eternal life.  Those who possess a relationship with the Son are assured that they presently possess eternal life.   These assurances are given to the believers not in their feelings or opinions which may waver from day to day but rather are given through the written word from God.  These assurances are further backed with the full knowledge that it is (Continued from page 2) (Continued from page 1) impossible for our God to lie, make a mistake, or fail in fulfilling His word (Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18).   Only believers can possess such positive expectation in their lives as they trust only in the great “I AM”.  Believers understand that “with God all things are possible” (Lk. 18:27).  Believers understand that they can “do all things through Christ who strengthens them” (Phi. 4:13). In the prayer life of the believer petitions, supplications, and requests are made known.  The Christian knows every request is heard.  We further know that our God in His perfect will will always do what is best for us.  He will not necessarily do everything we want Him to do.  We are thankful that He wants to hear from us and that He does hear all of our prayers.  He does expect His children to have faith and trust in Him even though we do not fully understand. When I was out of Christ I was maybe at times worldly positive but the more I lived life the more I learned that this world would ultimately lead to failure.  This led me to some doubts and uncertainties in life.  God then had me where He wanted me, so that I would come to the realization that I needed more than this entire world has to offer.  I needed an inner peace and a blessed assurance that this world could not offer.  Being filled with uncertainties, fears, and doubts I began to look to God.  I learned that in this world that has not God there is fear, insecurity, and doubt.  I learned that these are the gifts of this world and Satan.  I learned however that God does not want me to be in possession of such a fearful disposition, rather he wants me to possess a spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind (2 Tim. 1:7).   You see as a Christian I can know (relate to) the God in whom I believe.  Because of the overwhelming evidences He has given me though His word I am persuaded or convinced that he can keep every trust and confidence I have in Him (2 Tim. 1:12). You know I don’t ever want to be away from this trust.  I don’t want to ever be filled with doubts or become uncertain of my bond.  As a matter of fact I want to do all I can to strengthen this bond.  I do this with my efforts found in Bible study, prayer, and faithful attendance and works that glorify my God.  I will choose daily to draw near to God with a true heart in full assurance found in faith (Heb. 10:22).  Christians like everybody else have good days and bad days.   The difference between the believer and the unbeliever is that the believer knows with certainty their source of deliverance and salvation.  The DILIGENT Christian has God’s full assurance and expectancy until and through whatever we may define as the end (Heb. 6:11).   God’s wonderful assurances for the faithful believer are conditional.  We as children of God are expected to exert ourselves and do some things to show our faith is genuine.  We know this is true because of the little word, “if.” “IF we say that we have fellowship…”  “IF we walk in the light…”  “IF we say that we have no sin,…”  “IF we confess our sins,…”  “IF we say that we have not sinned,…” (1 John 1:6-10).  These IF’s are placed in the Bible to remind us so that we will not be beguiled into thinking we can coast into heaven once we are saved.  There is still something for me to do.  I am not earning points with God rather I am experiencing the faith God wants me to possess and be blessed with.  Oh it truly is blessed to know believers are always in possession of Christ and His blessed assurance.