Wrong Thinking (#6 and last)

It’s wrong thinking to think God doesn’t love us. We are all creatures made by the fingers of God. We are God’s masterpiece of creation and throughout the entire Bible God repeatedly confirms his love for us. In fact, the Bible is often called God’s love letter to man. Satan is the god of this world and you must remember that he can and does put negative thoughts in our mind all the time. If you’re spiritually aware you can often differentiate between your thoughts, God’s thoughts, and Satan’s thoughts. One of Satan’s strategies is to separate us from the love of God by constantly telling us God didn’t make us and God couldn’t possible love someone like us, a mere sin-filled human being. Nothing could be further from the truth. God dearly loves every creature he has made.

We are all children of God and the Bible makes it clear God wants all his creatures in heaven with him. But God isn’t going to force us to go to heaven. Every person has the free will choice whether to serve God or Satan. The love God has for us is incomprehensible to Satan, who loves no one and hates everything. The Bible confirms God is love and we know Satan is the direct opposite of God in all things so that means Satan is hate. Satan hates man most of all because he knows we’re special to God. Satan would destroy all human beings if given the opportunity. However, God protects us from the evil one. God allows Satan and his demons to attack our minds but they aren’t allowed to harm us physically. Those are God’s rules.

John 3:16 – (Jesus) – For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

John 14:21 – (Jesus) – He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.

Romans 8:38-39 – For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Hebrews 7:25 – Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

Romans 8:30 – Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified, these He also glorified.

It’s wrong thinking to think God will stop loving us because we sin. God never stops loving all the sinful nonbelievers who are going to hell so what makes you think God will stop loving you, a believer, just because you sin? Would you stop loving your child just because they did something wrong? No you wouldn’t, because your child was made by you. Your child is a part of you and your love is an unconditional love. The love of God is a thousand times greater than our love. In fact, the love of God is so profound that man cannot fathom the depth of God’s love this side of heaven. Look, God made us so he’s well aware how weak we are and he has compassion for us. God knew before we were even born that every man is going to sin again him and to what degree. That includes all nonbelievers as well as all believers. God knew all men would sin before he laid the foundation of the world yet it didn’t stop God from going ahead and making us anyway. So it’s ludicrous to think God would suddenly stop loving us because we did something (sin) that God knew we were going to do before he made us. If that were the case God wouldn’t have gone to the trouble to make us in the first place. God is ever faithful and his love is constant. God never made any person with the express purpose of sending them to hell. God’s mind doesn’t work that way. God made us for fellowship in heaven forever and he loves us in spite of the sins he knew we were going to commit and he forgives us of our sins if we ask him. Can’t you see that?

James 5:15 – And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

1 John 2:1 – My little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

Romans 3:23 – For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Psalm 14:3 – They have all turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is none who does good, no, not one.

Ecclesiastes 7:20 – For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin.

If Satan can convince the nonbeliever that God doesn’t love him it’s much easier for him to steal their you soul. If you’re a believer Satan wants to make you think you can lose the love of God in order to make you an ineffective Christian; someone who can’t spread the gospel message of God’s saving grace. Satan wants to convince you that you are not worthy of God’s love and that God couldn’t possibly love someone like you because of your sin. Satan knows nothing about God’s love so why would you listen to him? Look, if your faith in your own salvation isn’t rock solid your witness for Christ won’t be worth a darn. You must have a passion for God when you witness for Christ because a nonbeliever can always tell whether or not you’re passionate about serving the Lord. If you don’t have a palpable passion for God the nonbeliever will tune you out before you even get to the gospel message of Christ. Just accept the fact that we live in a fallen world and we’re all going to sin and pay no attention to Satan’s lies. As believers we are to try to our best to sin less and less every day as we live out our lives, while asking God in daily prayer to forgive us of our sins.

John 10:28 – (Jesus) – And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.

2 Corinthians 5:7 – For we walk by faith, not by sight.

Romans 11:29 – For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

Galatians 6:7 – Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

1 Corinthians 2:14 – But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

It’s wrong thinking to think you’re not saved just because you don’t feel like you’re saved. Fellings have nothing to do with it. The Bible confirms if you confess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior then you’re saved. End of discussion. Every person has an eternal spirit given to them at conception by God. You can’t see your invisible spirit. Your spirit has no weight and you can’t feel it yet that doesn’t mean it isn’t there. The physical man cannot discern spiritual things easily so we have to rely on the word of God to know what’s going on in the spiritual world. The Bible says we must live by faith and not by sight so start doing it. When we are saved through faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior God gives us a brand new spirit because our old spirit contained the sin of Adam’s fall in the Garden of Eden. We can’t feel that happening in our body yet it’s true. We need to look at salvation from God’s perspective. Salvation is not about us and what we deserve because, quite frankly, we deserve to suffer eternal death for our sins against God. Our salvation is ultimately about God and the love and mercy he feels toward us, his special creation.

Ephesians 1:13 – In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.

Ephesians 4:30 – And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

1 Corinthians 3:16-17 – Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

Romans 8:11 – But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

John 14:16 – (Jesus) – And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever.

At the moment of our salvation the Holy Spirit also takes up residence in our bodies forevermore as an earnest deposit from God until we are redeemed by the Lord on the last day. The Holy Spirit can only indwell someone who is saved because God cannot abide sin. Only a vessel cleansed of sin by God is fit for the Master’s use. If someone were to lose their salvation by the introduction of sin back into their spirit that would mean the Holy Spirit gets kicked out of the body like an unwanted squatter. Does that sound possible to you? It doesn’t to me. The Holy Spirit is God’s guarantee that we are saved and the Holy Spirit never leaves a believer’s living body once indwelling occurs. We can’t feel the Holy Spirit living inside us but that doesn’t mean it’s not true. I know this to be true spiritually because I’ve studied the word of God for over twenty years. You’re saved unto eternal life in heaven through faith because God says you are if you’ve given your life to Jesus. It makes no difference how you feel. What’s important is what God says in his word because God cannot lie. You can’t physically feel something that is happening spiritually so get a grip and trust what God says. If you’re a believer and you don’t think you’re saved after praying the sinner’s prayer to God then you’re calling God a liar to his face. You’re mocking God and you’ll be held accountable on the last day when you stand before Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 13:5 – I will never leave you nor forsake you.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 – Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own. For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

John 4:24 – (Jesus) – God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

John 3:6 – (Jesus) – That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

John 7:38 – (Jesus) – He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

I’m also one of the few believers that God has blessed with the physical knowledge that the Holy Spirit is inside me. Years ago in New Orleans when I was still working I physically felt the Holy Spirit move inside my body. In my hotel room I felt something solid in the pit of my stomach and I felt it move up through my chest and come out my neck as I automatically bent forward as though I was going to throw up. It was firm but invisible. It scared the hell out of me at the time because I didn’t know what had happened. It wasn’t until several years later after I’d begun to study the Bible in earnest that I realized it was the Holy Spirit I felt that day in New Orleans and he was making me aware of his presence. I was saved at the age of twelve so why was God suddenly making me aware that he is with me after all that time? I had no answer that made sense to me. Several years after this I received my ministry of reconciliation from the Holy Spirit, which is to study God’s word and give my testimony of God through the written word. My bones were on fire for the Lord, therefore I had to witness for Christ. I had an unquenchable thirst for God’s word and still do. I will abide in God’s word forever and I suggest you do the same if you want to please God.

Jeremiah 20:9 – Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His name.” But His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not.

Psalm 42:1 – As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God.

Psalm 63:1 – O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.

Psalm 143:6 – I spread out my hands to You; my soul longs for You like a thirsty land.

Psalm 84:2 – My soul longs for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

My study of God’s word started out with writing letters to my family and friends and eventually it evolved into www.onemoreforjesus.net; my Christian blog site whereby I spread the gospel seed in writing. I also witness for Christ “passively” by distributing gospel tracts through my prison ministry, www.christiantractministry.com. All believers are commanded by God to witness for Christ to all nations and all people and this is how I obey God; by spreading the gospel seed through the written word. God manifested himself to me physically as the indwelt Holy Spirit that day in New Orleans so that I could one day give my testimony about the Lord in my blog, which I am doing now, and which I have also done on numerous occasions in the past. This is my testimony about the God who made me.

Psalm 45:1 – My heart is overflowing with a good theme; I recite my composition concerning the King; my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.

1 John 5:13 – These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

1 John 2:25 – And this is the promise thet He has promised us – eternal life.

John 8:47 – (Jesus) – He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.

Luke 11:23 – (Jesus) – He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.

The last thing I want to address in this blog is those believers who think they can somehow lose their salvation because of their sin. It’s wrong thinking to think that a believer can lose their salvation once it’s freely given to them by God. Can God make a mistake? No. Can God change his mind? No. If it were possible for a believer to lose his salvation through sin God would have told us in his word. I find no mention of that in the Bible but I have found numerous scriptures that confirm our salvation is forever. You have to remember God knows the end from the beginning so he already knows every event that’ll take place in his creation including every moment of your life. God already knows every sin you’ll ever commit so if he chooses to go ahead and make you and then save you God won’t later renege on his promise of salvation. That is a lie from Satan so dismiss it. God know your heart so if he saves you are saved forever. The calling of God in irrevocable. To prove it God indwells the believer with his Holy Spirit as an earnest deposit which ensures he’ll redeem us on the last day. Satan preys on our minds and one of his greatest lies is you’ll lose your salvation if you sin. If that were the case there wouldn’t be any saints in heaven because all believers sin and we’ll continue to do so even after we’re saved. God knows we’re dust, we’re weak, and we’ll continue to sin because we live in a sin-filled world as we walk this earth in our physical bodies which are also full of sin. It’s just a part of the human condition as long as Satan is the god of this world. If a believer grieves the Holy Spirit through sin God has the option of bringing him home early and they may lose their reward.

John 6:40 – (Jesus) – And this is the will of Him whom sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son of God and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

John 6:47 – (Jesus) – Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.

1 John 5:11 – And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.

John 5:24 – (Jesus) – Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My words and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

Romans 5:1 – Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

God is not a liar and God will not be mocked! The Bible makes it abundantly clear that salvation once given will last for all eternity. Jesus Christ, the son of God, came off his throne in heaven, took on flesh, and died on the cross in our place so that our sins could be forgiven by a loving and merciful God so that we can have eternal life in heaven. So if you think your salvation can be lost are you telling me that Jesus died in vain? God forbid! If you suddenly become unsaved because of sin how much sin would that entail because we all sin to one degree or another? If you decide you want to be saved again does that mean Jesus must shed his blood for you a second time, and so on? Are you saying the blood of Christ wasn’t sufficient to save you completely the first time? At the moment of salvation scripture tells us it’s the Holy spirit that actually changes our eternal destination from hell to heaven. It’s the Holy Spirit that writes the new believer’s name in God’s book of life. So you think when you become unsaved the Holy Spirit has to go back to the book of life and put a line through your name and then correct the mistake he made by marking you down for heaven. And you figured all this out by yourself without any mention of it in the Bible. That is rich! You’ve fallen into Satan’s trap! If you follow this line of thinking you’re a fool. If you mock God and call him a liar to his face you’ll be held accountable on the last day when you stand before Jesus Christ at the bema judgment seat. Don’t fall for Satan’s lies. Once you’re saved you’re always saved. I’m a Baptist and this is what my church believes and what I believe. Other Christian denominations think differently as noted below:

Arguments and Perspectives on Salvation:

Methodists – Methodists state that a believer can lose their salvation through intentional rejection of faith, but it can be regained through repentance.

Pentecostals – Pentecostals think that salvation can be lost through willful sin or turning away from faith.

Catholics – Catholics believe that salvation can be forfeited through grave sin, but confession and penance offer the opportunity for reconciliation.

Baptists – Baptists believe that once saved, always saved; stressing the security of the believer’s salvation.

All denominations need to be careful not to establish church doctrine based on the reading of one or two vague Bible verses. When you interpret scripture that is not very clear look at the surrounding scriptures for clarification. Consider the context in which the scriptures were written and who was the intended target of the book or verses. Scripture is best interpreted by other scripture. If something is important to God he’ll repeat the verse or verses multiple times in his word which gives you an opportunity to clarify its meaning. All I know is the Bible contains dozens of scriptures that clearly confirm salvation is irrevocable. There are no mistakes in the Bible and God cannot lie. I urge all people of God and all church denominations to study God’s word so they can be assured of their salvation. Assurance of our salvation is one of God’s greatest gifts to man. When we have peace with God it allows us to have the peace of God in our hearts. We don’t have that unless we know our salvation is secure. How can you have the peace of God in your heart and effectively witness for Christ if you aren’t rock solid in the belief of your own salvation? You simply can’t witness effectively for Christ if you think your salvation could be taken from you at any moment. To me this in one of Satan’s greatest lies. The Bible confirms that Satan cannot snatch us out of God’s hand once we’re saved so believe God. Rest easy in the love and peace of God.