If thy trust is stayed upon Christ who is God's great way of Salvation, thou has evidence that you were chosen of him form before the foundation of the world; and that faith of thine entittles thee to all the privileges which Christ has pormised in his word to believers....

   If you get Christ, you are in his church.  If you have laid hold on him, you are a member of that secret and invisible community of His elect and His redeemed; but it is not by baptism nor by birthright that you can ever be so.....

    If you have not Christ, your church certificates are waste paper and your membership with any people, however pure and apostolic they may be, is but a name to live while you are dead, for the only way, the sole way, of getting into the real, vital, living church of Christ, is by coming to Christ who is Himself the door...~Charles H. Spurgeon

 

   I thought these words to be as relevent today as they were in the 1800's when they were written.  First, if you know Jesus, then you are called by him, and it is a high calling.   We are told to forget those things which are behind us, reach forth to those things which are before us, and press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus~ (Philippians 3:13 +14)

  There is no place for comprimize.  So many struggle with habits and evil desires but this needs not be the case.  God can heal instantaneously.  It may take time to GROW in knowledge, to smooth out our walk, but deliverance is complete, on the spot.  When Jesus or the apostles cast out demons or lay hands on the sick to heal, in most cases the resulting miracle was instant.  In fact, rarely was there a delay to the deliverance.  How far we have fallen from this power!!  Today we unfortunately have wedded pop psychology and New Age self help Teachings to the gospel, and the result is as Spurgeon said, a "mingle- mangle of Christ and Belial."  The result of this foolishness is nothing but undeliverable souls, because ongoing "therapy" has replaced the mighty hand of Gods deliverance!

   Your faith, if you truly have faith does indeed entitle you to all the privilages of Christs prom9ses in his Word.  Some of these promises are the power to cast out devils and heal the sick (Mark 16:17-18) Jesus says these are SIGNS that shall follow those who believe.  Now I'm not going to preach signs here and make an emphasis on miraculous wonders.  The Word simply states that signs shall follow those who believe.  If there are NO signs following you, if you have not experienced at least SOME signs of Gods ppwer, the question that must be asked is, do you REALLY believe?

   If signs are supposed to follow those who believe and there are no signs, then do you believe?  Or are you perhaps like those who are church members only, thinking attendance or membership, or baptism, or daily Bible reading, or prayer makes you a Christian?  Those things may be good, but they do NOT make you a child of God! Jesus makes you a child of God, imparts faith, which you excercise reciprically, Trusting entirely in him, and hence the living word dwells within you by the Holy Spirit; who also empowers you; and who also shall spontaneously perform these "signs" of which we speak!

   "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."~ (Philippians 2:120

   God working in you.  Realize what this is saying.  Not just the letters of the words, but the life empowering them, which is eternally consistant, settled in the heavens, permeating all creation, piercing to the heart, illuminating the mind.  Discerning these truths we need to daily work out our salvation, seeking God- not "trying" to do good but just doing it by letting God work in us and through us.  Herein we will live in the Spirit and overcome the deadness that abounds in modern Theological meanderings----