I was saved when I was 13, but during that first year of my new Christian life, I had not given God my all. So the very next year when the new church we were attending held a revival, I walked down the aisle again.
I knew I was already saved, but I also knew that I was getting older and had not really given God my whole heart. So I was saved when I was 13, but I really gave God my all when I was 14.
I believe the main reason I didn't give God my all when I was initially saved was because no one ever gave me answers to the questions I would naturally have as a new Christian—and no one gave me the scriptures I would need to stand on when doubts began to enter my mind.
But that second year, when I walked down the aisle, the revival preacher's wife was in the back of the church. She was waiting for all of us who had been saved that night. As soon as she got us all together, she began to drill us with questions.
She knew that by the next day we would be asking ourselves these same things and that, for sure, the devil would be throwing questions at us—questions like: How do you know you are saved? How do you know God accepts you? How do you know God forgives your sins?
After she had drilled us for a while, I began to cry and think to myself, "I thought this was supposed to be fun, and here she is making me cry my eyes out…making me feel guilty."
After I had cried a little bit, she began to explain. "Now listen, the reason I drill you so carefully is because the devil is going to question you, and he is going to ask you these same things."
As soon as I quit sniffling, she began to answer the questions. I was so thankful to have been given the beginning of a firm foundation on which to start my new life.
A Word Foundation
There are answers in the Bible for what you need if you have a desire to be saved, or if you have recently been saved, and need a solid base, as I did, on which to stand.
It's important that you confess (repeat out loud), on a daily basis, the scriptures listed below until you feel you are strong enough in your spirit to stand against the devil no matter what questions or accusations he may throw at you.
You see, Satan will work against you by putting his "doubt words" into your mind, hoping you'll dwell on them and accept them. The way to fight against them is to dwell on and confess God's "faith words."
"Just as a baby needs nourishment when it is first born in the flesh, so a new Christian needs nourishment when he or she is born again in the Spirit" (John 3:1-8). After repeating these scriptures for a while, strength will begin to come into your spirit just as strength begins to come into a baby's body by feeding on milk.
First Peter 2:2 tells us, "Like newborn babies you should crave—thirst for, earnestly desire—the pure (unadulterated) spiritual milk, that by it you may be nurtured and grow unto (completed) salvation."
You should never totally stop confessing these scriptures—not even after you have "grown up" in the Lord. Every believer, no matter how long he or she has been a Christian, is engaged in a continual battle with Satan from the moment of salvation.
The good thing is that although we Christians are in a continual battle, we have the promise that greater is He (Jesus) Who is in us than he (the devil) who is in the world…and that the battle is the Lord's (1 John 4:4; Ex. 14:14). He is there to help us.
Back To The Basics
Well, by the time that preacher's wife had gotten through with me, I knew that when the devil came at me I could say: "This is how I know I am saved. This is how I know God accepts me. This is how I know God the Father forgives me. I am His child, adopted into His family through Romans 8:23. I'm grafted in, and I'm part of the Kingdom. Devil, you can't steal my salvation from me!"
Now here is your self-defense against the negative thoughts and doubts the devil will try to put into your mind and get down into your heart so you'll start believing them.
Take these scriptures and use them as a confession against the devil so that no matter what he or anybody else says, you can answer: "Wait a minute. This is how I know I'm saved, accepted, forgiven and a child of God, a part of the Kingdom. It's not based on feelings, but on God's Word."
Self-Defense Salvation Scriptures to Confess
Questions:
How do I know I am saved?
How do I know God accepts me?
How do I know God forgives my sins?
John 3:16: "For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He (even) gave up His only-begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish—come to destruction, be lost—but have eternal (everlasting) life."
Romans 10:9-10 KJV: "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."
Romans 8:15-16,23: "For (the Spirit which) you have now received (is) not a spirit of slavery to put you once more into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption—the Spirit producing sonship—in (the bliss of) which we cry Abba! (That is,) Father! The Spirit Himself (thus) testifies together with our own spirit, (assuring us) that we are the children of God…
"…And not only the creation, but we ourselves too, who have and enjoy the first fruits of the (Holy) Spirit—a foretaste of the blissful things to come—groan inwardly as we wait for the redemption of our bodies (from sensuality and the grave, which will reveal) our adoption (our manifestation as God's sons)."
Genesis 1:26-27: God said, "Let Us (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) make mankind in Our image, after Our likeness; and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the (tame) beasts, and over all of the earth, and over every thing that creeps upon the earth. So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; make and female He created them."
Basically, God said to you and me, "I love you so much that I am going to make you just like Me." And now that God has made us, every chance he gets the devil comes along and says to us: "You're not anything. You're nobody. You're not worth anything." And many among us believe the devil's lies.
Our "Contract" With God
One day it dawned on me that God has given us a contract, and it's the Bible. When we have a lack of knowledge about our contract, it's hard for us to stop the devil from causing us to break that contract.
But when we get the knowledge of what this contract says, we have the right to resist the devil and say to him: "No, devil, you cannot force me to break the contract because it is legal and binding. It is an agreement between my Father God and me, through Jesus, and He is the judge and jury, not you. You cannot make me break my contract."
The contract states that you and I are "somebody" to God and that He can and will do great and wonderful things in us and through us and around us. But we have to take authority over our surroundings in the name of Jesus and say: "this is my contract and, devil, in the name of Jesus you will not cause me to break it. I am 'somebody' to God."
You need to know today that this is your day—you can rise up! You may not know that you are "somebody" to God, but the contract states that you are (Gen.1:26-27).
As a believer, you have a rich inheritance through your contract with God because of the death of Jesus Christ for your sins. In Christ you are SOMEBODY!
Source: Simple Facts: Salvation, Healing & the Holy Ghost by Cheryl Salem
Excerpt permission granted by Praise Books
I knew I was already saved, but I also knew that I was getting older and had not really given God my whole heart. So I was saved when I was 13, but I really gave God my all when I was 14.
I believe the main reason I didn't give God my all when I was initially saved was because no one ever gave me answers to the questions I would naturally have as a new Christian—and no one gave me the scriptures I would need to stand on when doubts began to enter my mind.
But that second year, when I walked down the aisle, the revival preacher's wife was in the back of the church. She was waiting for all of us who had been saved that night. As soon as she got us all together, she began to drill us with questions.
She knew that by the next day we would be asking ourselves these same things and that, for sure, the devil would be throwing questions at us—questions like: How do you know you are saved? How do you know God accepts you? How do you know God forgives your sins?
After she had drilled us for a while, I began to cry and think to myself, "I thought this was supposed to be fun, and here she is making me cry my eyes out…making me feel guilty."
After I had cried a little bit, she began to explain. "Now listen, the reason I drill you so carefully is because the devil is going to question you, and he is going to ask you these same things."
As soon as I quit sniffling, she began to answer the questions. I was so thankful to have been given the beginning of a firm foundation on which to start my new life.
A Word Foundation
There are answers in the Bible for what you need if you have a desire to be saved, or if you have recently been saved, and need a solid base, as I did, on which to stand.
It's important that you confess (repeat out loud), on a daily basis, the scriptures listed below until you feel you are strong enough in your spirit to stand against the devil no matter what questions or accusations he may throw at you.
You see, Satan will work against you by putting his "doubt words" into your mind, hoping you'll dwell on them and accept them. The way to fight against them is to dwell on and confess God's "faith words."
"Just as a baby needs nourishment when it is first born in the flesh, so a new Christian needs nourishment when he or she is born again in the Spirit" (John 3:1-8). After repeating these scriptures for a while, strength will begin to come into your spirit just as strength begins to come into a baby's body by feeding on milk.
First Peter 2:2 tells us, "Like newborn babies you should crave—thirst for, earnestly desire—the pure (unadulterated) spiritual milk, that by it you may be nurtured and grow unto (completed) salvation."
You should never totally stop confessing these scriptures—not even after you have "grown up" in the Lord. Every believer, no matter how long he or she has been a Christian, is engaged in a continual battle with Satan from the moment of salvation.
The good thing is that although we Christians are in a continual battle, we have the promise that greater is He (Jesus) Who is in us than he (the devil) who is in the world…and that the battle is the Lord's (1 John 4:4; Ex. 14:14). He is there to help us.
Back To The Basics
Well, by the time that preacher's wife had gotten through with me, I knew that when the devil came at me I could say: "This is how I know I am saved. This is how I know God accepts me. This is how I know God the Father forgives me. I am His child, adopted into His family through Romans 8:23. I'm grafted in, and I'm part of the Kingdom. Devil, you can't steal my salvation from me!"
Now here is your self-defense against the negative thoughts and doubts the devil will try to put into your mind and get down into your heart so you'll start believing them.
Take these scriptures and use them as a confession against the devil so that no matter what he or anybody else says, you can answer: "Wait a minute. This is how I know I'm saved, accepted, forgiven and a child of God, a part of the Kingdom. It's not based on feelings, but on God's Word."
Self-Defense Salvation Scriptures to Confess
Questions:
How do I know I am saved?
How do I know God accepts me?
How do I know God forgives my sins?
John 3:16: "For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He (even) gave up His only-begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish—come to destruction, be lost—but have eternal (everlasting) life."
Romans 10:9-10 KJV: "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."
Romans 8:15-16,23: "For (the Spirit which) you have now received (is) not a spirit of slavery to put you once more into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption—the Spirit producing sonship—in (the bliss of) which we cry Abba! (That is,) Father! The Spirit Himself (thus) testifies together with our own spirit, (assuring us) that we are the children of God…
"…And not only the creation, but we ourselves too, who have and enjoy the first fruits of the (Holy) Spirit—a foretaste of the blissful things to come—groan inwardly as we wait for the redemption of our bodies (from sensuality and the grave, which will reveal) our adoption (our manifestation as God's sons)."
Genesis 1:26-27: God said, "Let Us (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) make mankind in Our image, after Our likeness; and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the (tame) beasts, and over all of the earth, and over every thing that creeps upon the earth. So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; make and female He created them."
Basically, God said to you and me, "I love you so much that I am going to make you just like Me." And now that God has made us, every chance he gets the devil comes along and says to us: "You're not anything. You're nobody. You're not worth anything." And many among us believe the devil's lies.
Our "Contract" With God
One day it dawned on me that God has given us a contract, and it's the Bible. When we have a lack of knowledge about our contract, it's hard for us to stop the devil from causing us to break that contract.
But when we get the knowledge of what this contract says, we have the right to resist the devil and say to him: "No, devil, you cannot force me to break the contract because it is legal and binding. It is an agreement between my Father God and me, through Jesus, and He is the judge and jury, not you. You cannot make me break my contract."
The contract states that you and I are "somebody" to God and that He can and will do great and wonderful things in us and through us and around us. But we have to take authority over our surroundings in the name of Jesus and say: "this is my contract and, devil, in the name of Jesus you will not cause me to break it. I am 'somebody' to God."
You need to know today that this is your day—you can rise up! You may not know that you are "somebody" to God, but the contract states that you are (Gen.1:26-27).
As a believer, you have a rich inheritance through your contract with God because of the death of Jesus Christ for your sins. In Christ you are SOMEBODY!
Excerpt permission granted by Praise Books
Cheryl Salem walked the runway to become Miss America 1980, despite what appeared to be all odds stacked against her. Poverty, sexual abuse, a horrific car crash that resulted in a physical handicap and over 100 stitches in her face were no match for what God had planned for her life. Through simple, childlike faith in Him, she overcame these insurmountable obstacles and eventually took the crown in Atlantic City! She has used this distinction as a springboard to launch the Gospel of Jesus Christ into churches, schools, women's retreats, television appearances, etc. Prison ministries, women's shelters, inner-city outreaches, and disaster relief programs have made use of Cheryl's books and CDs to offer hope and help to those in need. According to Cheryl, "None of these things would be possible, if not for my Jesus."
