“The Lord knows those who belong to him.”—2 Timothy 2:19 (ERV)
If you have called on God to forgive you and to save you from eternal damnation, He knows you. In other words, He recognizes you as His child, but you may not feel any different at all. How can you be sure that you have been saved? How can you be sure that you are God’s child now?
There are actually several ways that you can know and be confident in the fact that you are saved; and you are God’s child now, and your name is written in God’s Book of Life.
First: Jesus’ Promise
“I tell you the truth. Whoever hears what I say and believes in the One who sent me has eternal life. He will not be judged guilty. He has already left death and has entered into life.”—John 5:24 (ICB)
In this promise, Jesus Christ, God’s Son Himself, promises us that if we truly hear what He says to us and believe in the God of the Bible, we have eternal life. In this way, we can be sure that we are saved from being judged guilty by God. We have escaped the damnation of hell. We will live forever with God. Jesus’ promise to us is repeated in different ways in other places in the Bible. Here are a few of them:
“And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.”—1 John 2:25 (KJV)
“Everyone who believes [with a deep, abiding trust in the fact] that Jesus is the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed) is born of God [that is, reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, and set apart for His purpose], and everyone who loves the Father also loves the child born of Him.”—1 John 5:1 (AMP)
“And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.
“I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.”—1 John 5:11-13 (NLT)
“We were made right with God by his grace. God saved us so that we could be his children and look forward to receiving life that never ends.”—Titus 3:7 (ERV)
In addition to Jesus’ promise, you may also notice some things that are different in your life. These changes are also signs that you have been saved. You may not experience all of these, but being aware of these signs will help you know what to expect as a new believer in Jesus.