The Permanent Confidence Of Salvation
By Abraham Israel
"Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever." (Eccl.3:14).
In my life, the confidence of salvation came very late. But I was saved at the age of seven. I know of that day, I sat in our Church which was a makeshift thatched roof arrangement we had, because the big thatched Church we had before that time was set on fire by some miscreants just some months before. I began to pray in the afternoon time, but that was a unique day I can never forget. I was praying and a clear understanding came to me that I was a sinner in need of the Savior Jesus whom I had heard our aunties and Sunday school teachers speak regularly in the Sunday class and in the Church meetings, as I was born and brought up in that very place.
Then I felt a great remorse come upon me, I clearly understood at that time that the reason Jesus died on the Cross was because of my sin which I committed against God. Then as I continued praying for a long time, the very picture of Jesus Christ hanging upon the Cross with wounds on His hand and feet, and blood oozing all over the wounds and His whole body appeared in a vision just before my eyes. It broke my heart still deeply and I prayed and prayed until a great joy came flooding in to me, filling my childish heart with peace that cannot be described. Later my mother told me that I prayed until late night and that she called me to come and sleep, but I refused and continued to pray till I fell asleep.
But as I was a naughty guy when I was young, I then continued in my life as usual. We used to go to so many retreats and children's camps regularly as Dad was a missionary Pastor. At that time because we were children, the teaching of the commandments would be the prime thing that they would teach. According to their teaching if we again start doing some evil things, we would lose our salvation. So I would attend the spiritual meetings and feel like I was saved and then after I would come back to home and the normal life would start, then the so called salvation experience received during the retreat would dissipate in to thin air. This went on till the days of my late teens in which I became a hypocrite. But praise God, one day when I was hearing and singing a simple song which said, "Lord, you are changing me....", something supernatural started to happen inside of me as I kept singing it softly over and over again with a broken heart for my hypocrisy towards the Lord. Tears started to swell up in my eyes which I tried to wipe again and again, exactly at that time the Spirit of the Lord touched me and the assurance that I was was changed forever came over me. My dad who saw me how I would act well after retreats and revert back to the same old life said this time, "Let us see, how long this will continue....". Hallelujah! But things changed to the extent that all the people who had seen me before were surprised at the sudden change that the Lord gave me in many areas, one of which was extreme anger which would always lead to unforgiveness. No turning back, the Lord has continued to change me from faith to faith by giving me grace upon grace, to reach one level of glory to another level of glory always move forward progressively! Praise God that whatever the Lord does shall be forever!
Although I got saved at the age of 7, in the home Church where I grew they do not give baptism for children who profess faith, as it was kept for teenage and adults only. It has nearly taken for me more than two and half decades from the day of my new birth in Christ Jesus to take a conscious decision of profession, after which I took baptism at 32 before my marriage on 20-12-2011 through a Pastor friend. Jesus Himself took a long time to become a perfect adult and then be a priest of God at the age of 30, after which He identified Himself before others to take the Baptism of John (Matt 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22; John 1:24-34). Levitical priests served for 25 years, from age 25 to age 50, according to Numbers 8:24,25. So it is better to think consciously and take a decision of profession, but that should never limit children who have faith to be encouraged to take Baptism. There are great spiritual blessings that comes with obedience to the Lord's command to identify oneself as a disciple of Jesus and take Baptism in water (Matt 28:18-20). I believe that the earlier is better once we come to realize that we are saved from sin and have received the eternal life of God as a free gift from Him (Acts 16:30-34; Eph 2:8-9). Glory be to God for His gift of salvation given to us freely, and the permanent confidence of salvation that comes to us through believing His word and seeking His voice, and finally the clear conviction that He gives to us to take the Baptism in water which is nothing but a public confession of who we had become already in Christ to the world around us. More than ever there is not a iota of doubt within me now every day about my salvation which I have received from the Lord Jesus Christ that it will stay for eternity with me no matter what struggles of life I go through.
I praise God that I could not save myself but Jesus saved me and I received it with joy, I believe according to what Jesus has promised in His Word, my salvation is eternally secure in His hand and My Heavenly Father's hand because the eternal life that He has given me makes me to never perish from the Father's Presence again no matter what, and that nobody in the entire universe, humans or angels or any beings and doings could ever be able to snatch me out of My God's Hands forever and ever (John 10:27-29). If I did not save myself and God saved me and have promised me that no one including me can snatch that salvation He has given to me out of His hand, how could I ever get lost because of my own doings or unworthiness (2 Tim 2:13; Rom 8:31-35, 37-39). God knew my past, present and future before it had even started, and still He chose to save me in Christ Jesus because of foreseeing me through His Love for me, then how can I ever lose Him who promised never to lose me (Jer 1:4-5; Acts 15:18; Isa 46:10; 45:22-25). His hands are bigger and stronger than anything I could ever imagine, and I have come to believe by the experience of my Salvation and the conviction that comes through His Word and His Spirit that I can never be lost for eternity from God who has saved me by His everlasting grace, and above all He has promised to keep me saved by His power till my very end (Deut 33:27; Isa 53:1; 52:10; 59:1; John 12:38, 39-40, 42, 46, 47-48, 49-50; 1 John 3:24; Php 1:6). Just a food for thought! GLORY BE TO GOD NOW AND FOREVER!
Much Blessings.....
In my life, the confidence of salvation came very late. But I was saved at the age of seven. I know of that day, I sat in our Church which was a makeshift thatched roof arrangement we had, because the big thatched Church we had before that time was set on fire by some miscreants just some months before. I began to pray in the afternoon time, but that was a unique day I can never forget. I was praying and a clear understanding came to me that I was a sinner in need of the Savior Jesus whom I had heard our aunties and Sunday school teachers speak regularly in the Sunday class and in the Church meetings, as I was born and brought up in that very place.
Then I felt a great remorse come upon me, I clearly understood at that time that the reason Jesus died on the Cross was because of my sin which I committed against God. Then as I continued praying for a long time, the very picture of Jesus Christ hanging upon the Cross with wounds on His hand and feet, and blood oozing all over the wounds and His whole body appeared in a vision just before my eyes. It broke my heart still deeply and I prayed and prayed until a great joy came flooding in to me, filling my childish heart with peace that cannot be described. Later my mother told me that I prayed until late night and that she called me to come and sleep, but I refused and continued to pray till I fell asleep.
But as I was a naughty guy when I was young, I then continued in my life as usual. We used to go to so many retreats and children's camps regularly as Dad was a missionary Pastor. At that time because we were children, the teaching of the commandments would be the prime thing that they would teach. According to their teaching if we again start doing some evil things, we would lose our salvation. So I would attend the spiritual meetings and feel like I was saved and then after I would come back to home and the normal life would start, then the so called salvation experience received during the retreat would dissipate in to thin air. This went on till the days of my late teens in which I became a hypocrite. But praise God, one day when I was hearing and singing a simple song which said, "Lord, you are changing me....", something supernatural started to happen inside of me as I kept singing it softly over and over again with a broken heart for my hypocrisy towards the Lord. Tears started to swell up in my eyes which I tried to wipe again and again, exactly at that time the Spirit of the Lord touched me and the assurance that I was was changed forever came over me. My dad who saw me how I would act well after retreats and revert back to the same old life said this time, "Let us see, how long this will continue....". Hallelujah! But things changed to the extent that all the people who had seen me before were surprised at the sudden change that the Lord gave me in many areas, one of which was extreme anger which would always lead to unforgiveness. No turning back, the Lord has continued to change me from faith to faith by giving me grace upon grace, to reach one level of glory to another level of glory always move forward progressively! Praise God that whatever the Lord does shall be forever!
I praise God that I could not save myself but Jesus saved me and I received it with joy, I believe according to what Jesus has promised in His Word, my salvation is eternally secure in His hand and My Heavenly Father's hand because the eternal life that He has given me makes me to never perish from the Father's Presence again no matter what, and that nobody in the entire universe, humans or angels or any beings and doings could ever be able to snatch me out of My God's Hands forever and ever (John 10:27-29). If I did not save myself and God saved me and have promised me that no one including me can snatch that salvation He has given to me out of His hand, how could I ever get lost because of my own doings or unworthiness (2 Tim 2:13; Rom 8:31-35, 37-39). God knew my past, present and future before it had even started, and still He chose to save me in Christ Jesus because of foreseeing me through His Love for me, then how can I ever lose Him who promised never to lose me (Jer 1:4-5; Acts 15:18; Isa 46:10; 45:22-25). His hands are bigger and stronger than anything I could ever imagine, and I have come to believe by the experience of my Salvation and the conviction that comes through His Word and His Spirit that I can never be lost for eternity from God who has saved me by His everlasting grace, and above all He has promised to keep me saved by His power till my very end (Deut 33:27; Isa 53:1; 52:10; 59:1; John 12:38, 39-40, 42, 46, 47-48, 49-50; 1 John 3:24; Php 1:6). Just a food for thought! GLORY BE TO GOD NOW AND FOREVER!
Much Blessings.....
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