Do you doubt your salvation? You’re not alone. Many Christ-followers experience times when their faith wavers and the enemy whispers accusations that cause them to doubt if they are really saved. Just as a slow but steady drip can damage over time, repeated trials and temptations can cause cracks in our spiritual armor. We stumble, as though the ground beneath us were crumbling, although it is our steps that are uncertain; the foundation of our faith is as sure as it ever was.

The book of 1 John is a powerful antidote for doubting and wavering in our faith. He makes it clear that his purpose in writing is that we know that we have eternal life. We aren’t meant to live in a perpetual state of doubt.

"These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life" (1 John 5:13).

Doubt is a sickness that must be addressed; it will lay us low and keep us off the battlefield, right where the enemy would have us. To counteract doubt, here are seven clear indications of true salvation that should be evident in the life of a believer.

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Do you ever wonder what heaven will be like? While Scripture doesn’t give us a lot of details about what our day-to-day life will be like (or even if there are days, since God operates outside our understanding of time), we are given a picture of what will take place there in Revelation 4:1-11.

The Spirit of God transports John into the very throne room of God. John describes its beauty and brilliance: hues of emerald, sardius and jasper stones, a sea of glass, a rainbow that completely circles the throne, lightning flashes and peals of thunder. God is not alone in His throne room; surrounding him are twenty-four elders sitting on thrones, clothed in white and wearing golden crowns. In addition, there are seven lamps of fire burning, and four unusual creatures who add to the Spirit-filled, continuous worship service taking place.

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God always loves to hear from us. Even a short prayer can be a wonderful way for us to reconnect with him and focus our hearts. But sometimes, even when we ask God for things, His answer may be "no." But there is one thing he will never say no to, and that is when we pray for our own hearts. Here are three things you can pray for God to do to your heart.

The nature of the Trinity - God the Father, God the Son and the Holy Spirit - is just something that we will never be able to understand this side of eternity. But it doesn't mean we can't catch glimpses, or marvel at the wonder of God. The Bible does pass along three irrefutable truths about the Trinity that can help us understand this concept. 

If you grew up in Sunday School, one of the songs you remember most was about a “wee little man” named Zacchaeus. Its origins are unknown despite its popularity, and indeed, its biblical accuracy in memorializing the salvation experience of an ungodly tax collector who met Jesus. The gospel is a simple message with incredible results; Zacchaeus bears this out. Comprised of only ten short verses (Luke 19:1-10), his story has been shared in countless sermons, blogs, devotions, and books for both kids and adults, as an example of what happens when you meet Jesus. 

I’m fairly confident Zacchaeus will be one of the most sought-after personalities in heaven, as all of us want to know first-hand what he was thinking when he ran ahead of the crowd and climbed a tree. (Personally, I’m hoping God has a huge DVD library where we can watch the actual events of all the stories in the Bible, narrated by the people who experienced it themselves!)

There are two ways to look at Zacchaeus’ story. One is from the perspective of the unbelieving person who needs to hear about Jesus; the other is from the viewpoint of those who already believe and are obediently striving to share the good news. Here are four things we can learn about the gospel in this encounter.

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"I'm spiritual but not religious." "I love God, but I don't really trust the Bible." "All that Jesus stuff happened so long ago, you know?" Can a person say these things and still be a Christian? What does that word - Christian - really mean anyway? And are God and Jesus so closely linked that you really can't have one without the other? 

In Mark 12, we read of an interesting dialogue Jesus has with the Jewish religious leaders. The conversation came as a result of a parable He had taught about a vineyard owner (Mark 12:1-12). Jesus clearly connects this parable to Himself, quoting from Psalm 118:22 (see Acts 4:11, Romans 9:33, 1 Peter 2:7). The religious leaders understood that he was comparing them to the unrighteous and rebellious vine-growers. They went away to regroup and decided on a new tactic. They decided to send some of their group to try and trap Jesus in His own words.

Their first question was about loyalty to Caesar versus loyalty to God (Mark 12:14-17). Their second question focused on life after death. Jesus answered both questions in ways that exposed their deceptive hearts. Finally, one scribe recognized Jesus wasn’t going to be tricked, so he asked a sincere question. He wanted to know what commandment was the first and most important of all.

To answer, Jesus quotes from two Old Testament passages, Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Leviticus 19:18.

Mark 12:29-31 – “Jesus answered, ‘The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.’”

Matthew quotes Jesus as adding this statement: “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:40). The word “depend” literally means “to hang,” as a door hangs on its hinges. The entire Old Testament, the foundation of the Jewish faith, is summed up in and rests upon two simple commands: Love God, love one another.

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When you think of God in the New Testament, you probably think of Jesus - working miracles and sacrificing of himself for others. But God in the Old Testament is often wrathful. Old Testament tales are filled with warfare and violence. How do we reconcile these two pictures? 

Proverbs gives us practical advice and life-principles that show us how to live wisely in the fear of God. The book personifies wisdom as a woman who calls out to the naïve and simple, and in Proverbs 9:1 we find this intriguing statement: “Wisdom has built her house, she has hewn out her seven pillars.”

Why seven? Is this a random number, or is there a reason Solomon chose to mention the number seven? We know God loves numbers; He also loves a good mystery. It would be helpful if we could find a list of these “seven pillars” but unfortunately, God chose not to make it that easy. 

God does talk a lot about wisdom in Scripture, and several passages help us discover what these seven pillars might be. There are other possibilities; this is just one practical application, taken from God’s Word, that helps us build a house of wisdom.

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In John 13-17, Jesus uses the last few hours before His crucifixion to reveal His heart, both for the ones who believed in Him then, and for those of us who would believe as a result of their testimony. His words give us encouragement and hope and leave no doubt as to how much He loves us and wants for us. We should not be satisfied with half-hearted faith; only real faith that surrenders itself fully to God’s will and purpose provides us with the abundant life Jesus always wanted for us – a life made possible by the cross.

What Jesus wants for us is intimately tied to what He expects from us. Salvation is a free gift by grace through faith in the Son of God, but the abundant life promised in salvation must be taken hold of by following the Giver’s instructions. We can possess salvation and inherit its eternal benefits but by our own choices miss the abundant, joyful, peaceful life that God intends us to have right now, in this life.

While not an exhaustive list, I see five clear commands of Jesus in these passages. He tells us what to do, motivates us to do it by promised blessings, shows us how by His own example, and asks the Father to empower us to obey. 

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A neighborhood book club is a great place to learn how people think. While trying to reconcile the contradictory actions of a certain flawed character in a book we read, one person commented that “all people have both good and bad in them.” This was generally accepted in the group as the only reasonable explanation for how a person can do evil, diabolical things while at the same time showing concern and compassion for their fellow man. 

Is this true? Do all people have both evil and good in them? The answer might seem obvious, because we all know people who exhibit both characteristics. In fact, we are those people. What we believe about good and evil affects our lives in many ways and has eternal implications.

Do we become the people we are simply by choosing to follow one side or the other? Are some people simply better at suppressing their evil side than others? Are we accountable for our free will choice to do good or evil? How good is “good enough” for God, and how bad does a person have to be before his good deeds no longer have value? Can our good choices outweigh our bad?

To answer these questions, we must start with the source of good and evil.

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One of the great theological battles is whether we as humans have free will over our salvation, or if it is all dependent upon God's sovereignty. There are various schools of thought and both have strong Scripture references to back up their points. But what if it's not an either/or argument? What is the two can be bridged by one word: And. 

Isaiah 9:6 - For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

Peace. Just five little letters, yet so powerful it can change the world.

Isaiah prophesied that the coming Messiah would be the Prince of Peace. Why Prince? Why not King of Peace? A prince acts under the authority of his father, the king. While Jesus is fully God, equal with His Father (John 1:1), He brings peace as the emissary, or messenger from His Father. Jesus was “sent by God” (1 John 4:9) and “became obedient” by His death on the cross (Philippians 2:8). Thus, His role as Prince of Peace is directly tied to His role as Savior, accomplishing the task for which His Father sent Him into our world.

Real peace can only be found in Jesus.

Here are five reasons Jesus is still the Prince of Peace:

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