So for a while, while I was still living in Michigan, I would go to church and when the pastor told us to bow out heads and close our eyes, he asked us to raise our hands if we were saved, and I raised my hand every time. But then for some reason these thoughts were coming into my mind like if I were saying them in my head like, “Lord leave me.” And so on. I got really scared one night and cried out to God and asked him to save me.  I continually had this thoughts through our week of VBS, and when I asked a friend of mine from my church and told them what was happening. I told them that I had called upon the name of the Lord to save me, and this promises that he’ll save me.  That night I knew I was saved cause of what Christ did for me. One of my deacons at the church told me that Satan only bothers saved people because he already has the unsaved and therefore, all these thoughts were from Satan, thereby showing me I was saved.  But then I continue to doubt, and when I went to college, I was very eager to find answers. But one day, on Sunday afternoon at work, a guy took me outside work and showed me how to be saved. I wasn’t fully understanding how to believe and put your faith in Christ until the guy told me how do you put your faith in a chair, and I said you said you sit in it. But then I prayed and told God that I didn’t understand, and asked him to save me. But then I got back in work, looked through a window that showed the dining area, and I envisioned two chairs, each representing the world and Christ. Once I saw those chairs, I immediately sat in Christ’s chair and had a sure knowledge that I was saved. But now I do not understand how the Holy Spirit convicts, guides, and comforts.

Zac

Hello Zac,

Thank you for your honest testimony. The Holy Spirit convicts the unsaved of sin, the need for Christ’s righteousness, and judgment without it (John 16:8). Therefore, when you understand sin, sin’s consequence, and that Jesus saves through His death and resurrection, and then simply depend on Christ to save you—He does (John 3:16; 6:47). He saved you the first time you trusted Him to save you.

When weird thoughts like “Lord, leave me” come to a believer’s mind, they are fiery darts from the enemy. Simply reject them. When you got saved, your spirit was regenerated as something of God’s nature was implanted in your spirit. This is the real you. The real you wants Jesus! So, reject the strange thoughts and claim your union with Jesus. His Spirit has moved into your regenerated spirit. When you side with truth, the Spirit will bear witness with your spirit that you are a child of God (Rom. 8:16). The Spirit bears witness to truth, not doubt.

The same Spirit who convicts the lost comforts the saints, but there is also a counterfeit conviction. When someone has simply depended on Jesus for salvation, they are saved. The Bible says so! Therefore, if they later sense “conviction” that they’re lost, it is not the Holy Spirit, but the accuser of the brethren.

John

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