God comes to live in us when we surrender our will and our lives to Him, accepting the forgiveness of our sins through the finished work of Jesus. Through Jesus we have a brand new life, a life that goes on forever.
This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. (2 Corinthians 5:17, John 3:16 NLT)
Sometimes we immediately feel different. Sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we will wonder if anything has happened just because we said a prayer to God. Change will come first in our spirit which is invisible, and it takes time for our thoughts, emotions, and decisions to be completely shaped around our new life. This is a time when Satan loves to come to us and have us doubt that God did something wonderful in us. Where do we look for assurance that new life has begun? The solid basis for knowing we have new life is believing what God says in His word as recorded in the Bible. We can be confident, and fully trust that we are saved, based on God’s promises. What God promises, He will fulfill. Truly we have been adopted into God’s family. God is at work. We will see our lives changed as we grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus.
Assurance means freedom from doubt. If we believe God’s Word, we ought to have no doubt about the reality of our new life in Christ. Today, if for the first time we are choosing to accept the truth of God’s word, we may wish to say the following prayer:
God, I invite you to come into my life and make me alive by the power of Your Holy Spirit. Cleanse me from all my sin through Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection from the grave. Fill me with power so I can live as a new person.
©2015 Partners in Hope
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