Are You Saved?

Conviction

As the bible means--Sense of guilt and shame leading to repentance.  The Hebrew word yakah gives us the idea of conviction.  It means "to argue with" "to prove" and "to correct".

Repentance

As the bible means-- Change of mind, and can also refer to regret accompanying an awakening that wrong has been done in one's life.

These two ideas are more important than any I can think of for a person who doesn't know if they are saved.  They are very important for the person who said a prayer at some point in their life, but never really felt sorry for their life and turned ownership of their future over to God.  I can't impress upon you enough that just saying a prayer won't get you into heaven.  You have to feel conviction and repent.

Matthew 3:2  REPENT, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.  

Mark 1:4  John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of REPENTANCE for the FORGIVENESS of sins.

Luke 3:8  Bear fruits in keeping with REPENTANCE.  And do not begin to say to yourselves, "we have Abraham as our father. For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for abraham.

Mark 1;15  And saying "the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, REPENT and believe in the gospel.

As i said earlier, these two ideas are of the utmost importance for someone who can't really decide if they are saved or not.  Now sometimes the devil will find ways to put doubt in our lives about our future, but he can't take our peace about our eternity because if we have been convicted of our sinful life and repented, then we are saved and should have a peace about our eternity.

I will always talk about true repentance in my messages because like I have said before, I went for years assuming that I was saved.  Now deep down, I knew i wasn't, but I had people tell me "Steve you are just over thinking this"  "Do you believe in God and Jesus?"  "then you are saved"  Please, I implore you, DONT listen to anyone else tell you that you are saved.  Eternity is too long to base it on what someone else says who can't see your heart.  You know if you are really saved.

One of the main ways to let us gauge our relationship with God is found in Luke 3:8.  It says to bear fruits in keeping with repentance.   Meaning do the things that the Holy Spirit tells you to do.  Tell others about Jesus.  Find some way to evangelize.  It doesn't have to be from a pulpit.  I remember a christian play I watched one time that had an awesome illustration of what we are to do for God.  A football player that got saved said "football used to be my god, now it's my pulpit"  We should use any chance we are given to tell the lost about Jesus and what he did on the cross.  

I may have gotten a little long winded today, but I just got to writing and couldn't stop.  If you don't feel saved right now and are feeling like your life has been wretched and sinful, then you may be being convicted.  Tell God you are sorry for your life.  Thank Him for sending Jesus to sacrifice Himself on the cross for YOU.  Turn your life over to God.  Ask for guidance through prayer and reading His word.  If you just did this then Welcome to the family of God.  Shoot me an email and let me know, I just love hearing about changed lives. sedwardn92@yahoo.com

God Bless!