How Can I Always Be Sure I'm Saved?

It should come as no surprise that doubt and unbelief are enemies of the life of faith. God has overcome your unbelief—now you know who Jesus is—but you will soon have to fight off your doubts in order to keep your confidence in Him flying high. Make sure that you know how to stay sure…

My friends, you must do all you can to show that God has really chosen and selected you. If you keep on doing this, you won't stumble and fall. 2 Peter 1:10 CEV

Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. Hebrews 10:35-36

All scripture citations are from the English Standard Version (ESV) unless otherwise noted.

A Need for Confidence

What a tragedy it would be if we were to go through all of our life tormented by a secret fear that maybe we aren't really saved. The truth is no one ever deserves to be saved. No one ever lives fully worthy of salvation. Everyone has to be saved by the Blood of Jesus and the mercy and grace of God. Period.

Therefore no one can truly take any confidence about their salvation if they keep looking to themselves and checking to see how they are doing as a sign of whether or not they are going to be saved in the end. The only way to settle this issue and to finally and fully lay all fears to rest is to let God's Word declare the truth and then stand on it with believing faith, resisting all temptations to doubt what God has written.

Do you ever wonder, "How can I be sure I'm saved?" Allow yourself to follow these simple steps, see what the scriptures say, then pray the prayers and take your stand. Don't be surprised if you have to stoutly resist some doubts and fears. Eventually, they will die down, vanquished by your faith in grace and in God’s Word.

Steps to Confidence

Step 1

Make up your mind and settle it in your heart. As long as you look to your own weaknesses and failures you will find plenty of reasons to doubt that you are saved. But we are not saved by our “doing”—it is a free gift that we receive through our believing! Choose to believe what God’s Word says and stick with it. Since we are “saved by grace through faith,” the critical question is this: “Do I have saving faith?[1]

Step 2

Do you believe in Jesus? Jesus says that anyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. We are saved because of what Jesus did for us, not anything we can do. Faith is how we receive the salvation God wants us to have.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Step 3

But do I really have saving faith? This is where many people get trapped by doubts. (“If I really believed wouldn’t I be doing better? Why don’t I feel it more?”) Let the truth of scripture set you free: Paul clearly tells us what saving faith is. It is being able to state out loud that “Jesus is Lord” and to believe in our heart that He was raised from the dead. This is the “evidence” within us that we have received the gift of saving faith: We now know who Jesus is (as Lord of heaven and earth) and what He has done (as the Savior who died for our sins and was raised to life). Note well how absolute the promise is:

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9

Step 4

Can I lose it? Not if you keep calling on His Name! Don’t risk letting your faith fade away over time. Keep it “alive and well” by calling, asking, pleading for His help whenever you need help. The Lord promises to always save those who do. If we stay steadfast in calling on His Name, this scripture provides unassailable confidence that our salvation has truly begun and is continuing.

For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Romans 10:13

A tripod is a remarkably stable construct. You can take a three-legged stool and place it firmly on any terrain. These three scriptures taken together will keep you standing solidly against any attempt by the enemy to put you off balance, doubting your salvation. I suggest that you memorize them, but at the very least, make sure you drink in deeply the saving truths they are telling you and know where to find them when you need them. Once the Lord showed me this “tripod” in scripture, my confidence, and the joy of my salvation became very solidly seated in me indeed.[2]

Prayers

Father, please forgive me for doubting that You love me. I keep looking at my failures and many weaknesses and just can’t see how You can. But You say that You sent Jesus to the cross out of love for me. I cast down all doubt and fear and choose to believe that You are not lying to me!

Jesus, please forgive me for doubting what You have done for me. You died on that cross for all of my sins and I know it! You have given me faith to believe it. Help me conquer my unbelief and live with confidence.

Holy Spirit, please come and help me take my stand once and for all on the truth, no matter what my feelings or other thoughts may be saying. I repent of looking to me (and how I’m doing) instead of to God and His Word!

On to the Next Question!

How can I stay saved?  Naturally, you won’t want to lose something this good. Happily, staying saved is not any harder than getting saved in the first place. It comes down to a little bit of you (your will) and a whole lot of God (His grace). Here is where the Salvation Basics provide immense and comforting illumination…

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