Today is Father's day. I am not a father, but I am so thankful for the ones that I have! Wait a minute!! The ones?? Yes, & I know that most if not all of you know that I mean both my earthly, & as thankful as I am for him, even more so my Heavenly One that my earthly one helped me find by introducing me to His Son Jesus Christ many years ago!! My earthy dad has always been such a wonderful, consistent witness for his Heavenly Father that it is likely best that I am not a father myself. If I was, I would definitely not be anywhere near the father that my Dad is!
But you know, this brings up an interesting point. I wonder if any of you have ever struggled with wondering exactly when your date of conversion to Christ was? I used to just worry myself silly over this! Strange as it seems to me now, this was once a life-or-death struggle. I had heard evangelists say such things as if you did not know when you were saved that you likely were not! I now know, & I unashamedly thank men like Bob Wilkin & others at GES, for helping me see, it is not so important to know when one was saved as to know that one is saved now. Thankfully I do know that. I also wonder if any of you have ever been so infatuated with having a conversion story that you even embellished the one you have to make it more "thrilling"?
Brothers & sisters, I am so thankful for God's grace in Jesus Christ! He has given me a wonderful wife who loves me & Him, & most of all He has given me eternal life in Christ! There is nothing in this world like knowing Christ & having the assurance of Heaven! OK, I'll stop rambling. Happy Father's Day!
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Bro. David,
I know the date and place where I trusted Christ as my Savior... And I am thankful for God's beautiful Grace that brought the Gospel to me.
When I was pastoring our church, there was a lady, a member, over 80 years old who came to me one day, worried because she had a Christian friend come to her and say there "must be a definite date you can remember when you believed, or you may not really be saved." She was distraught.
I asked her, "Minnie, do you know for sure you are going to Heaven." She smiled and said, "Yes."
Then I said, "Tell me how you know."
She repeated to me a clear understanding that she was trusting Jesus Christ alone as her Savior, with as clear a Gospel as any I have ever preached.
I asked her, "Do you really understand and believe that?"
"Yes, absolutely -- I am trusting Christ that He died for my sins and will take me to Heaven." she said, "But I don't remember when I made that decision."
"Well," I said, "it makes no difference when you believed the Gospel, but that YOU DO BELIEVE THE GOSPEL and trust Christ alone as your Savior.."
She smiled and quoted with me as I read to her 1 John 5:13.
She never worried about "The Date" again and still, at her age, was a witnessing and working member of our church.
David, I remember the date when I trusted Christ and you may not remember yours -- but who cares in the time-line of all eternity.
We are Brothers in Christ from now through all eternity!!! Thrilling, isn't it?
In Christ eternally,
ExP(Jack)
Bro. Jack,
Such wonderful truth! Thank you for your encouragement. God's gift of a(n) (under)shepherd's heart flows from your words. God Bless you today!
God knows exactly where to meet each of us in our deepest struggles and doubts. Praise God. I too have struggled like you but now know that I fully trust in Christ and that I have a new heart and am a new creation in Him. We gotta be sensitive to the Holy Spirits lead and meet them where they are at with the Word of God. There was the crushed in sprit woman at the well who was whispered softly too and then there were others who were told that they were a brood of vipers in desperate need of repentance.
Grace upon grace to you precious brother in Christ,
Brian
Thank you bro. Brian for your words. I heard Dr. Wiersbe say that one of the greatest joys in the Christian Faith is the joy of BECOMING! Thankfully we don't have to have all the answers because we have the One who IS the Answer! And He loves us. God Bless.
amen...yes, the Spirit still leads us in witnessing if we are listening and abiding in Him and I truly believe that in that quietness His strength will be revealed. He works as we are sensitive to His lead and puts others in our path and orchestrates events that I could never have imagined looking back.
God bless you and grace upon grace,
Brian
Hi David,
I don't have a date - just an approximate two month period where I know it happened, but I do remember a couple of people in particular saying something like: "I have a date, so I know I'm saved." I rememeber thinking that was really weird. :~)
God bless you and thanks for sharing your struggles.
Bro. Brian,
You are so right. I want to walk closer to my Savior than I do. He is so gracious to us. God Bless you.
Rosemeister!
Thank you for sharing that. I have noticed that there are many who I would call great believers who can't place a date on their conversion. What matters is that we're saved now! Thank you for stopping by. God Bless!
I'm not sure when exactly. I like CS Lewis's answer to this question. For him it was like waking up in the morning. There is that point at which one realizes that they are awake. He said he was going to the zoo. When he got in the car he wasn't. When he got out of the car at the zoo, he was. If you haven't read "Surprised by Joy" I highly recomend it. I've been told by some on different subjects that "if you don't know, you aint". As a young Christian those words were devastating. Now I just smile and nod my head. I really think those statements are more about the speaker than the hearer.
One more thing, you are blessed beyond your wildest imagination to have a father that loved Jesus. When you said fathers, plural, I automatically thought of spiritual fathers. For those that grew up with no leadership, and example, these fathers are also reason for giving thanks.
Hey Danny. I have that book "Surprised by Joy". It is a good read watching how he comes out of atheism to faith. Lewis still remained partially Catholic in the anglican church believing in purgatory and some other questionable and theistic evolutionary beliefs until he died but I do believe he came to faith and understood justification.
It was originally former slave turned great preacher and soul winner Jasper James Ray that made the quote, "If you is what you was then you aint."
Perhaps the preachers speak from a zealous heart as well and perhaps we are all growing from differant angles. My dear brother David here likes some of these preachers from the GES camp but I have greivances with some of the things they have said but am thankful that God used them to help David rest in his faith and I am thankful for David who has encouraged me to do the same.
Still growing and depending on grace upon grace,
Brian
Bro. Danny! Great to meet you. Thank you for your comments. I have read portions of that book. & that portion you referenced is a portion that I read. Thank you for your comment about certain statements being more about the speaker than the hearer. You are right, I am blessed beyond imagination.
Bro. Brian! As always you bless my heart through your kind words. I certainly don't agree with all of GES but their earlier writings especially have helped me greatly. God Bless you brothers!
It's sad what churches do to the gospel of grace and end up confusing people all the more with their foolish jargon that is unscriptural. A person does not need to walk an aisle, pray, ask Jesus into their hearts, have experiences and so on to be saved. It is the moment that one stops their self-efforts and rests instead in Another.
If people would only realize that God desires more than any single person alive their salvation more than they desire it then maybe they wouldn't struggle so much. That should be common sense since Christ left His throne in heaven to come here for us. It was Christ that did all the hard work while we passively watched. It just baffles my brain to know that God did all of this for me and nothing is required of me than simple trust of what was done on my behalf.
The message is Look and Live!!!!!!
Praise God bro. Dave! I like the illustration also that comes from a sadly true account. An explorer died literally of thirst in the Australian outback, & on his empty canteen he had scratched, "lost for want of water, God help me!" Someone said that had someone come to him in his thirst & offered him a canteen full of water, he wouldn't have first wondered if he could drink it correctly, he'd just grab it & gulp it down! So we do to the Water of Life offered freely! (Rev.22:17) Thank you for gracing this blog. May the Lord bless you.
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