Evidence of Salvation

"Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves."

As I turned to this weeks devotional the scripture had everything to do with what has been on my mind lately, "What is faith?" Whenever people ask me this, I recite Hebrews 11:1 in my head, "Faith is the substance of all things hoped for, the evidence that cannot be seen." Its one of my favorite scriptures, because faith cannot be seen and yet it is the substance of what also cannot be seen! Its beyond our minds, and in order to understand that, you must have faith. I just had this revelation that all of our emotions, feelings, passions, desires, and character can be proven through our actions, expressions, and what we do. That same applies to our faith... proven by the evidence of our s a l v a t i o n. & our salvation is Christ within us ! If Christ is in us, then we display the characteristics of Him! p o w e r.

"If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ." - Romans 8:9

Beth Moore lists a few remarkable ways that Christ's presence within us creates obvious realities completely foreign to us:

Conviction of sin. Without Christ, we lack a supernatural sorrow over sin. We may feel guilty, but human guilt differs from the conviction experienced by the redeemed. Guilt centers on ourselves and others. Conviction is the realization that our sin personally offends God. When convicted, our wrongdoing is a God issue rather than merely a people issue. Remember, Christ's Spirit is "holy," so He reacts to anything unholy. The Spirit is the One causing us to squirm. In our humanity, we are not innately "good" enough to squirm over sin.

A war with our old natures. The Holy Spirit's task is to make us more like Christ. He takes up residence with a primary job: conformation. We may resist change-- But when we do, we will sense the war within. In our natural selves we are not compelled to change, but our inner selves have compulsions to change.

A Strange sense of peace. Even when we don't necessarily like God's choices for us, we experience a supernatural sense of inner peace when we submit and trust.

An alien ability to respond like Christ. When yielded to God's control, at times we will respond with feelings, words, or actions totally distinct from our own natures. We may sometimes thing, That couldn't have been me. If we do not possess the Spirit of Christ, no matter how hard we attempt to "yield" to God's control, we will not experience that alien ability in our feelings and responses. We will be capable of "good works" but not "God works." Only a believer perceives the difference.

I took a spiritual gifts evaluation a few days ago, curious to see what it would say. I wasn't sure what my spiritual gifts were, nor was I aware of the many spiritual gifts there actually are. My highest results which I scored a 12 out of 12 on, was the gift of "faith":

FAITH

Literal Meaning: To trust, have confidence, believe.

Description: The gift of Faith is the divine enablement to act on God's promises with confidence and unwavering belief in God's ability to fulfill His purposes.

Distinctives:

• Believe the promises of God and inspire others to do the same.
• Act in complete confidence of God's ability to overcome obstacles.
• Demonstrate an attitude of trust in God's will and His promises.
• Advance the cause of Christ because they go forward when others will not.
• Ask God for what is needed and trust Him for His provision.

Traits:

• Prayerful
• Optimistic
• Trusting
• Assured
• Positive
• Inspiring
• Hopeful

Cautions:

• Need to act on their faith.
• Should remember that those who speak with reason and desire to plan do not necessarily lack faith.
• Should listen to and consider the counsel of wise and Spirit-filled believers.

References:

1 Corinthians 12:19, 13:2; Hebrews 11:1; Romans 4:18-21

When I read over the distinctives of having Faith... I realize how much God has built me up to be able to say humbly, yet in boldness and confidence, that I have Faith. I have a hard time grasping those who have no faith at all. I hurt for them and wonder how they could ever live a day without faith and the breath of l i f e. I wonder how they deal with little hills and slopes, and what would happen when the mountains stood in their way. Without Christ's dwelling, His peace and joy is not present in the individual :( This makes me quite sorrowful and I would like to conclude that salvation is the evidence of your faith... and for those who have not, and want, it is just as far as a little prayer.

I wrote a song when I was first saved, to remember this little prayer...

"Dear God, I am a sinner
and I need forgiveness
I believe that Jesus Christ
shed His precious blood
and died for my sins
I now invite Him
into my heart
to live as my personal Savior
In your precious name, amen"