I’ve struggled with spiritual assurance from time to time. Not really about salvation, but sometimes about other things.
I think it comes from the fact that God doesn’t give me big emotional experiences. Like when I was called to preach–there was no Damascus Road experience like the Apostle Paul had (the story is told in Acts chapter 9). Or Isaiah’s vision to become a prophet (Isaiah 6).
Those were very dramatic experiences.
But for me there was no lightning bolt. I wished there was. I would like to have that decisive moment to point back to, but God did not choose to deal with me that way.
Why didn’t God give me the drama? I don’t know. I’ve just had to accept it.
Getting a dramatic spiritual experience it not something we should strive for. It happens or it doesn’t. It is simply that God deals with different people in different ways.
Some can name the date and the time when they were saved or when God gave them a revelation. They could maybe tell you the room they were in and who was in it and what the weather was like that day. That hasn’t been my lot.
Still, there were times when I felt I could have really used a voice from heaven.
Why does God deal with people differently? I don’t know and I don’t need to know. It’s not important. But the important things–matters of believe and practice are very clear. Our walk with God is not about experiencing emotions but about believing in Him.
The New Testament has a big place for facts but a small place for emotion. It never says, “You should have a dramatic, emotional experience.” It never says, “Paul and Isaiah had such manner of experience, you must too.”
The most important thing is plainly there for all to see. It is objective, knowable and universal. No emotional experience is necessary. We see this objectivity in Paul’s words (Romans 10:8-9): “…if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
What is required? Repentance and faith. No visions, emotions and feelings are required. If you get them, they are an extra.
I remember a humorous story from the sermon of one of the old holiness preachers (C.W. Ruth in his sermon Subject Is the Holy Spirit). He noted that people who came up to the altar for spiritual help are sometimes disappointed when they don’t get a dramatic experience. He joked that he should hook up the altar with electrical wires just so he could give people the jolt they were looking for. He said [I’m paraphrasing] “Some people get the lightning bolt; some people get the gentle dove. Those who seek the lightning bolt get the gentle dove, and those who seek the gentle dove get the lightning bolt.”
I found that to be a very helpful insight. Manner is not important; substance is.
If you are a person that gets visions, you need to be careful in how you express them. If you believe you’ve gotten a vision from God like that, first sift it to make sure it is in line with the truth expressed by the Bible. And if you believe it really did come from God, be modest about the way you express it. It can be intimidating to others to say, “God told me” or “God showed me.”
Our salvation is based on a bedrock of the gospel. The way to access it is through faith, not feelings. There is an old saying that likens the Christian life to a train: the engine is the fact of the gospel, the coal car is faith, and the caboose is feelings–it goes along for the ride.
The Word of God, the Bible, is the primary way God makes himself known. It is #1. It beats experience, tradition, reason, or the latest popular thing going on under the title of ‘religion’. It beats self-help, Oprah, talk shows, and all those little sayings that get posted on Facebook.
While I don’t get as much ‘visionary’ insight as I would like, I have to say that the Bible tells me everything I need to know about the most important things. It tells us about what God is looking for in His followers. It tells us how to escape death through salvation. It gives us insights on how to manage relationships, money, success and failure.
If we still need insight on something specific, we should pray about it and wait for the answer that God gives in his way and time.
The main point of what I’m trying to say is that we should just settle down if we don’t get dreams and visions. If you are stressed and feel unspiritual about not getting dramatic experience, just quit worrying about it. There is no problem. It is just not God’s will to deal with you that way.
The important thing is that we respond to Him in the things we do know–and those are very clear and objective.
I used to get intimidated by those that claimed dreams and visions. I don’t anymore. And I don’t resent them, either. It’s just the way God deals with them. It is liberating to accept that God deals with me in the manner He so chooses.