2 CORINTHIANS 13:5 – “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? – unless indeed you are disqualified.”

THEME OF THE DAY: PASSING THE TEST.   One of the chief areas Satan attacks the believer is assurance. It could be the assurance of our salvation, of God’s love and forgiveness, and even of God working in our lives.  Such painful experiences of doubt render a believer discouraged, ineffective, and noticeably lacking the joy of the Lord. Satan knows a doubting Christian is a defeated Christian, and his tactic is to get us to base our assurance on how we feel instead of what God says.  We may consistently defeat this ploy of the devil by obeying the Apostle Paul’s exhortation in today’s scripture – “examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith”.  Basically, we take the “assurance exam” to lead us to a more consistent experience of assurance. So, where do we find this exam?  A great place is in the Apostle John’s first epistle (1 John). Within its pages are a series of questions that comprise our exam.  There will be five – one from each chapter. I will lay out the exam and then let’s carve out time soon to sit down with an open Bible, a searchable heart, and allow the Spirit of God to administer His exam to us. The correct answers will go a long way in establishing assurance in our lives . . .

Question #1 – Do we consistently practice and enjoy spiritual fellowship with God the Father, God the Son, and other Christians?  (This does not mean just getting together for social activities or gatherings).

“That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3).

Question #2 – Is my life conforming more and more in the pattern which Jesus walked – in obedience to God’s Word and controlled by love for God the Father and people?

“But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked” (1 John 2:5-6).

Question #3 – Am I regularly sacrificing my time and resources to meet the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of my brothers and sisters in the Lord?

“My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18).

Question #4 – Do we love other Christians with a love that prefers their company more than any other people and is a love that longs to be blessings and encouragers to them?

“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us” (1 John 4:11-12).

Question #5 – Do we believe Jesus is God and does such revelation cause me to live under His authority in all things?

“Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments” (1 John 5:1-2).

PRAYER: Father, search and know me, then affirm to me my privilege to cry to You, “Abba, Father” with confidence.

“Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24).

REFLECTION:  Don’t be fearful to be searched by God. Assurance comes with “heart surgery” to affirm our adoption.