Blessed Assurance

If we are true Christians, we desire in our hearts to please the Lord. We often try so hard to make efforts to live up to the standard set forth in the Gospels. When we feel or think we are falling short of the Christians we ought to be, we get discouraged. We then try to comfort ourselves by buying into a philosophy or doctrine that says we cannot fully please God, nor does He expect us to fully obey His commandments. We breathe a sigh of relief in the thought that we are not perfect -- just forgiven.

These comforts are shallow and fleeting at best. We can never be truly comforted except by the Comforter (Holy Spirit) Himself and He never comforts us in continuing in sin. Rest never stays with us as long as we have a consciousness of sin or a feeling of uncertainty about the condition of our hearts. When we realize that we cannot live up to the Lord's standard on our own, we seek to assure ourselves that we are all right in the eyes of God. If our own self assurance falls short, we look for someone else to assure us that we're right where we ought to be in terms of righteousness and holiness. This is natural, but once again, neither lasting nor founded in "plain scripture and plenty of it."

Fanny Crosby wrote a song in the 1800's called, "Blessed Assurance." She is in the Guinness Book of Records for writing 5000 songs. Of all those songs, people in evangelical churches are familiar with a few. "Blessed Assurance" is one of the most popular songs she has written. The first verse is inscribed on her headstone. I personally love this old song for its testimony of "perfect submission."

"Perfect submission, perfect delight Visions of rapture now burst on my sight"

"Perfect submission, all is at rest I in my Savior am happy and blest":

Strong words to sing if we do not believe in such a thing as true, full surrender to the Lord.

I heard of a renewal many years ago in which people would pray until they received what they called the "Blessed Assurance." One term old line revivalist folk used in different moves of the Lord was "praying through." So, they would pray through to the Blessed Assurance. These days we often get in a hurry with our seeking and inquiring of the Lord. We want it now. We don't want to wait or, to use the old line revivalist term, "tarry before the Lord." Years ago people understood it takes time to "count the cost,” "die out" to self and sin and to "get a hold of God."

These terms can be strange to the contemporary Spirit-filled church. People who are familiar with these terms too often scoff at them as representing futile efforts to receive God's promises. They consider asking more than once or spending time in seeking the Lord a lack of faith. The one who prays has to assure himself that he is on track with God's will. It is only a lack of faith if we have already prayed through to the witness of the Holy Spirit and then keep seeking an answer.

Jesus identified Himself to the Laodicean church as the..."Amen, the Faithful and True Witness." When we try to believe without the "Amen, the Faithful and True Witness," we are likely to be unsure at the first sign of adversity. We need something deeper than our own trying to believe in the promises of the Lord. We need the witness of the Spirit of Christ in our hearts and souls to confirm our faith. He sends the Holy Spirit to witness and testify of Jesus. There must be a close interaction with the Lord if we're to be sure and steady. The Laodicean church is the church to whom the Lord Jesus said, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hears My voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." He wants us to open up and receive Him in fellowship and communion so He can assure us of the things of which we need Divine assurance.

If we think we have to get spiritual or mystical to have these things, we are right. Spiritual things are spiritually discerned (see 1 Corinthians 2:14.) The message of the true confirmation of the Holy Spirit is forged in the writings of old devotional masters who are often known as mystics. Of course, mysticism for the sake of mysticism is not right. Depending on the spirit of the person, mysticism can be wonderful or it can be weird

Other main contributors to the message of the deeper Christian life are people on their death beds. When people visit others who are about to pass on from this life, things that are really important confront them. (I have often said that I have learned more from people when they were dying, whether good or bad, than from all the books I have read.) If a person has time, they can fine-tune their souls to stand before God. Many times someone who is preparing to die has revelations and experiences that put them in touch with where they are going. We don't need to wait until we are dying to learn how to live this way.

Without Divine Assurance, we are not sufficiently certain of anything concerning spiritual matters. Only the Holy Spirit can confirm our Christianity to us from our initial rebirth as a Christian to the quality of our life in Christ. That is why young Christians need to have a genuine confirmation of their walk with Christ. This confirmation of the Holy Spirit doesn't make the believer more saved, but firmly establishes the heart in the truth of our salvation to do the will of the Father. If lovers of Jesus would drop their false presuppositions about terms like holiness and sanctification, they would find a wonderful Scriptural truth clearly laid out in the Bible. Isn’t it wonderful that Jesus does not only assume responsibility for our standing in righteousness with the Father, but He also assumes responsibility for our effective service in holiness? He can work through the yielded, surrendered vessel to accomplish the will of the Father in us and through us.

We can yield to the Lord right now, in this present moment. John Wesley says concerning the receiving of our full sanctification, "...If by faith, why not now? If we have to do or be something first, then it is not by faith." So, if by faith, why not now? Andrew Murray writes that we are to first appropriate by faith the fullness of Christ, and then follows the experience. No matter who we are, no matter what our present state, we can by the grace of God make a full and complete surrender to the Lord. He then confirms us with the witness of the Spirit in the way He sees fit. For some, it is sweet and peaceful like the dawning of a new day. For others, it is a fiery baptism with great claps of thunder in their souls. He perfectly confirms us in Himself. The Lord assures us that our surrender is a work of the cross of Christ in us. Then our renewal and confirmation in the will of God are the very resurrection power of Christ.