1. DOUBT YOUR OWN SALVATION? 2. THE LORD'S PRAYER

From the Board of Elders

Dear Members in Christ,

Doubt your own Salvation?

“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17
 

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:13

The Devil is active in the world and in our lives. The more we are closer to God, the more he would get closer to us in order to disrupt our faith in God. He does not want us to have victorious Christian lives. He wants to lure us away from God and stumble us so that we would doubt or lose our faith and not able to witness and win souls for the kingdom of God. 

The Devil is an adversary and is deceptive, cunning, scheming, cruel, he lies, slanders and is vicious. Thus, occasionally Christians fall into a state of doubt questioning whether they are born again or saved. Do not fall prey to the deceits of the Devil.

The Bible teaches that once we are saved, we will not lose our salvation unless we are not truly saved in the first instance. “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:13.

When the Devil creates doubt in you, you can check against God’s Word and ask yourself the following, “Do I …"

1) Thirst for God: “My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?” Psalms 42:2

2) Hunger for God’s Word: “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby” 1 Peter 2:2

3) Live for God: “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” 1 John 3:9

4) Believe that Jesus is the Christ: “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.” 1 John 5:1

5) Obey, submit and led by the Holy Spirit: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:” Romans 8:14, 16. God hates sins.

6) Believe in the doctrine of Separation: “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” 2 Corinthians 6:17-18

7) Repent immediately once convicted of one’s sin. No excuses given. Resolved not to repeat the sin again: (cf. Psalm 51)

8) Look forward to obey and walk in righteousness according to His Word: (cf. John 14:15)

9) Believe that God’s kingdom is important. You are busy doing His work of salvation and fellowship of the saints: (cf. Hebrews 10:24-25, Matthew 28:19-20)

If you believe and are doing all of the above, you are truly saved. However, as you are still in the flesh and prone to sin, you may stumble at times. Pick yourself up. Confess and repent. God will surely forgive. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9. Christians will never be perfect while they are living in this world. Christians will only be perfect, without sins, when they are in Heaven with God. Meanwhile, do strive to live a righteous and holy life for God.

The Devil will keep putting doubts into us. God teaches us to “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.” James 4:7-8. As we do this, our faith will mature and grow stronger and stronger each day. We will have strong faith and the doubting of our own salvation will flee. The Holy Spirit will guide and lead us to live victorious Christian lives. To God be the Glory.

Eld Choe TS

 

The Lord’s Prayer

We often pray the “Lord’s Prayer” in our worship services. The following excerpt is the first of a two-part series on the Lord’s Prayer. In this first part, the article dwells upon two issues. Firstly, the Lord’s Prayer as a corporate prayer i.e. a prayer to be said by the church as a collective whole as well as a prayer by individuals e.g. in private devotion. This article also highlights the post Reformation change to the way the church prays during the worship service. 

The Lord’s Prayer as a Corporate Prayer in Unison

The Lord’s Prayer is also sometimes called the Disciple’s Prayer. Why do Bible-Presbyterians and some reformed churches pray this prayer in worship? Is it scriptural to pray this prayer in a corporate manner? In Matthew 6:9 the Lord taught His disciples to pray “after this manner pray ye.” The injunction to pray, “pray ye”1 is a command to the disciples as a collective group. The plural pronouns used in the prayer, such as, “our daily bread”, “our debts”, and “our debtors” points to one conclusion. That the Lord’s Prayer was taught as a corporate prayer, a prayer made by an assembly, therefore it is addressed in plural pronouns. An important caveat – we must not misunderstand that this prohibits us from praying this prayer as individuals. Many components in the Lord’s Prayer applies to an individual as much as it applies to a corporate assembly of believers. Therefore, we are not prevented from praying the prayer in private as individuals or in corporate worship. 

What is the significance of the public utterance of the Lord’s Prayer to the reformed faith? The history of the pre-Reformation darkness of the church has much to do with it. In the dark ages, prayer in the church was uttered only by the priesthood, and often it is in a language foreign to the congregation. The Reformation 1517 changed that completely. The theological eye-opener is that the believer too is part of the priesthood, having access to God by prayer. This access to God is iterated in Hebrews 4:16 “let us come boldly unto the throne of grace.” The theological thrust is this – God had meant for His people to pray to Him in a corporate and public manner. Prayer was never meant to be the utterance of an elite, cloistered group of people. Thus, the Lord’s Prayer is most appropriate for the congregation to pray together corporately and in unison. Often, the worship leader would end the invocation prayer with the Lord’s Prayer by saying that we pray in the name of the Lord Jesus, “Who while He was on earth taught His disciples to pray, saying…” followed by the Lord’s Prayer. Quite befittingly, it is a prayer which we say as a public testimony of our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, a declaration of the ministry of our Lord and Saviour Jesus on earth.
 
1 The phrase “pray ye” is translated from “Προσευχεσθε” is expressed in the imperative, second person, plural, it is clearly an address to a collective whole.

In Christ,

Dn Lim Seh Beng