I want to personally thank you again for your wonderful ministry and the spiritual guidance you impart in the articles you present on scripture.
My question is one that has concerned me for a long time and perhaps many of our other brothers and sisters out there. The question relates to a subject you recently talked about on being born again. How do you know for sure that you’ve been born again even though you’ve continually asked the lord to come into your heart, repent of your sins, and fully believe the gospel, in that the lord was born of a virgin, was crucified dead and buried and then rose again on the third day, was seen by many and ascended into heaven and reigns at the right hand of God-almighty and until his greatly anticipated return. This in spite of the fact that I continue to sin in areas that I wouldn’t think a true Christian would sin.
The scary thing for me is if it has only been a superficial belief all along based on an intellectual belief of our lord and savior. Then when we stand in front of our lord he will say I never knew you! This is a question I have never seen addressed in our own church and on many of the Christian broadcasts and would then put into doubt the question on OSAS since you thought you were saved but in fact you were not. I would love to hear your insight on this since you yourself didn’t feel you were born again until much later in your own Christian walk.
It’s true, I was a church goer for most of the first 40 years of my life before I knew for certain that I was born again. (Let me remind you that my church didn’t teach that we need to be born again, and never had any altar calls.) I don’t know the exact day I was born again, but I became sure I had been when the Lord began changing the direction of my life.
Looking back, I believe as many as 9 years may have transpired between the day I consciously gave my heart to the Lord while hiking in the mountains and the day I knew that He had taken control of my life. But I can now see that everything I did in the interim was part of a pattern preparing me for ministry. I didn’t recognize this as it was happening, only as I look back.
During all that time, and to this day, I’ve been a sinner. It’s true of all of us. Your behavior may surprise you, but it doesn’t surprise God. He knew every sin of your life before you committed even one of them, and died for them all.
If you believe the things you say you believe, and have sincerely prayed the prayer you say you’ve prayed, then you’re born again. You don’t need proof because the Lord has promised that everyone who calls upon the Name of the Lord will be saved (Romans 10:13) and His word is good. Keep on confessing when you sin, keep asking the Lord to take your life for His purpose, and keep expecting Him to do so. Because He will.