When I was younger I struggled to be sure that I was really saved.

I was a serial go to the front her during the 1980s,

first as a kid and then as a teenager.

As a 14 year old I'd already prayed the prayer on multiple occasions. I went to the front at a Billy Graham rally and said the prayer. I went to the front at a Louis Palau meeting and said the prayer. I went to the front at Louis Palau meeting and said the prayer.

I sat with head bowed at numerous churches in numerous denominations over the years and

said the prayer. I said it ever more fervently, ever more anxiously and often with tears and I kept praying and going to the front because I was never entirely convinced that I'd prayed and gone to the front enough.

What would you say to 14 year old Barry, once you told him to get rid of that ridiculous

fluff on his upper lip?

Many Christians I think would say something like this, as long as you were sincere

when you prayed the prayer, you are saved. The thing is, looking back, I'm really not sure I was. It wasn't until I was 20 and in my second semester at university

that I felt a deep inner assurance that I was truly saved. Where did that suddenly come from? According to scripture, this

profound inner sense of assurance is something that the Holy Spirit gives us.

As it says in Romans chapter 8, you have received the Spirit of

adoption as sons by whom we cry, Abba Father, the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

We have to be careful of course.

It's not that our feelings are the basis of our assurance.

After all, it's possible to feel very good about yourself and yet be living in opposition to God.

Only Christ's life and death can be the basis of our assurance. But clearly there is such a thing as the

Holy Spirit within us giving us a strong assurance that we are children of God.

Now some might say it's not good to pursue a sense of assurance about our salvation. Doesn't it lead to arrogance or complacency?

Well there's no room for arrogance because you know that salvation is the free

gift of God's grace. You're not saved by anything you've done, so there's no room for boasting. And as for complacency, just listen to 2 Peter

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