Thought of the Day !!

I want you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea, and for many other believers who have never met me personally. I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God's mysterious plan, which is Christ himself. In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
                                                                     Colossians 2:1-3 (NLT)

Do you know that you know that you know that you know...that you are going to Heaven?  Without a shadow of a doubt, do you know that Christ died for you?  Yes, even you?  

If so, this is called assurance.  Hebrews 11:1 tells us that faith is this assurance.  It's the assurance of things hoped for.  It is the conviction of things not seen.

If we don't have this assurance, then we need to take a closer look at our faith. That's just exactly what John Wesley had to do.

In 1738 John Wesley wrote down in his journal that he felt his heart strangely warmed.  It was then that he found assurance for the first time.  He was already a priest in the Anglican church.  You might think that he should have already had this assurance by then.  But he didn't.  

Here are his words:
"In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans.  About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed.  I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."

Wesley received assurance from God.  So, how do we receive this assurance?  There are two simple steps.  First – (The Bible says) ask and it shall be given.  Second – be willing to receive it (and what comes with it).

If you have doubts or do not feel that Jesus is with you every step of every day, then ask for this assurance.  Pray about it, and then go searching for it in Scripture.  I fear that many of us today hear Scripture read to us on Sunday mornings and that is it.  If you want to have a close personal relationship with Christ and the assurance that comes with it, you must live with prayer and Scripture.  

In the love of Christ,
greg