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 |  This is where I place many of the Bible verses, that help me rest assured, I am saved. |
| "26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." (Ezekiel 36:26-27, KJV) "Follow your heart!" is such a human expression. However, is the heart our best guide? “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9, KJV) The heart is a much more accurate thermometer than it is a thermostat. Thermometers measure the temperature of an environment. Thermostats set the temperature of an environment. If the heart is cold and unfeeling, that would indicate the heart is dead, spiritually. When the heart has warmth, compassion, and a desire to be right with the Lord and other humans, then that would indicate the heart is spiritually alive. What made the change? Who made the change? "For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy." (Romans 9:15-16, KJV) The Lord Alone chooses who will receive His life-giving touch. The Divine Obstetrician regenerates (births) the heart, who belongs to Him forever. "Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3, KJV) If you have heard people urging you to pray The Sinner's Prayer throughout this life, then you may be asking, "Okay, Jay, what do I do to be saved? Where do I sign on the dotted line of the Salvation contract?" "30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." (Acts 16:30-31, KJV) BELIEVE. Prayer not required. Gratitude for Salvation is always welcome. How do I know I have been saved? Let's read Ezekiel 36:26-27, KJV, again. "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." "The stony heart" doesn't care about God or salvation. It has no feeling. "An heart of flesh" is breakable, concerned, cares about God, and salvation. It is full of feeling. How do any of us know we have been born, physically? We breathe. We have heartbeats. We deal with both ends of the alimentary canal. We need sleep. How do any of us know we have been born again, spiritually? "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." (John 3:6, KJV) What are the characteristics of the born-again, spiritual life? "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." (Galatians 5:22-23, KJV) Christians are not perfect, but if an apple tree can be expected to bear apples, then the fruit of the Spirit comes as the result of Salvation. Christians are not perfectly loving, perfectly joyful, perfectly peaceful, etc. However, we care about these traits, and fruit in the bud is still fruit, that is growing.   |
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