assurance | Craig T. Owens

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Such Confidence!

February 12, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

“May God give you the desires of your heart and make all your plans succeed.” (Psalm 20:4)

How confident David is! How bold! And yet through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, David says exactly what Our Lord taught—

If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you. (John 15:7)

I tell you the truth, My Father will give you whatever you ask in My name. (John 16:23)

This assurance to ask largely of our loving Heavenly Father looks to His provision alone. It believes and it asks. It knows that God can answer—“now I know” (Psalm 20:6)—and that He does answer—“You have granted all the desires of his heart and have not withheld the request of his lips” (Psalm 21:2).

Oh, for faith to believe You and ask You for more!

How would your prayers change if you had the confident assurance of David?

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: assurance, boldness, confidence, David, faith, God's promise, God's provision, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, prayer, psalms. Leave a Comment »

Poetry Saturday—“I Stand” by C.B. Bubier

February 1, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

I stand upon the mount of God,

With sunlight in my soul;

I hear the storms in vales beneath,

I hear the thunder’s roll.

But I am calm with Thee, my God,

Beneath these glorious skies;

And to the height on which I stand

No storms nor cloud can rise.

Oh! this is life! oh, this is joy!

My God to find Thee so;

Thy face to see, Thy voice to hear,

And all Thy love to know! —C.B. Bubier

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: assurance, C.B. Bubier, eternal life, God's presence, poetry, security. Leave a Comment »

Prayer’s Empowerment

January 20, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Prayer is not about insurance, but assurance. Prayer is not about figuring things out, but about getting God’s mind on a subject.

But how does the faith to believe for that assurance, and the faith to capture God’s discernment come to us? It comes through the Third Person of the Trinity: the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit empowers us; He’s the central part of our prayer life.

Check out what Jesus said about the Holy Spirit’s role in your prayer life (see John 14:15-27).

Assurance—the Counselor [will] be with you forever (v. 16). The Holy Spirit doesn’t come and go, but He abides constantly. Jesus said I will not leave you as orphans (v. 18), but you will be loved by My Father (vv. 21-23). The Holy Spirit plays a vital role in bringing you into this intimate relationship (Romans 8:15).

Discernment—Jesus said a key component of your prayer life was if you remain in Me and My words remain in you (John 15:7). The Holy Spirit helps teach you what the Word says, and He will remind you of everything I have said to you (John 14:26). The more you can be reminded of God’s Word, the more you can pray and live with God’s discernment.

Peace—My peace I give you … do not be afraid (v. 27). One of the names given to the Holy Spirit is Comforter. The Amplified Bible defines this title as, “Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby.”

Boldness—when you have greater assurance of God’s Word, deeper discernment into the mind of the Lord, and a more tranquil peace because of prayer, you can pray and live boldly! Want to see boldness in action? Check out how the followers of Jesus lived and prayed after they were baptized in the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8; 2:14; 4:8; 4:31).

Make no mistake about it:

How we pray is how we will live!

Our prayers and our lives will be more assured, more discerning, more peace-producing and more bold when we let the Holy Spirit empower every aspect!

We will be continuing our series on prayer—If You Will Ask—next Sunday. I would love to have you join us!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: assurance, baptism, Bible study, boldness, Calvary Assembly of God, discernment, faith, God's Word, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, peace, prayer, Scripture, sermon. Leave a Comment »

Blessed Insurance

January 6, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

I’ve been bailed out by an insurance company many times. Homeowner’s insurance for the damage caused by a falling tree, medical insurance for surgery, auto insurance for car wrecks.

But here’s the thing about insurance: It’s only helpful after you’ve had a problem.

Workman’s comp is good after you’ve been injured
Auto insurance is good after you’ve smashed your car
Health insurance is good after you’re sick
Life insurance is good after you’re dead

Sadly, many people treat God like an insurance policy. They try to handle their lives themselves, and then after they’re beat-up, tossed around, and kicked to the curb they pray that God’s insurance will bail them out. It’s like they’ve changed the words of the old hymn to, “Blessed insurance, Jesus is mine!”

God desires for us to have a blessed assurance! He wants us to know His love and involvement in our lives every single day. Look at the assurance in these verses—

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of Him. (1 John 5:13-15)

If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. (John 15:7)

The Bible isn’t just a book to be read, it’s a book to be prayed. Get His Word in you, and stay immersed in His Word, and watch how your prayers change. You don’t have to wait for prayer to be your insurance policy, but you can live every day in a blessed assurance that God is for you.

Read the Bible, pray the Bible, and watch God do amazing things!

I will be continuing our series on prayer—If You Will Ask—this Sunday at 10:30am. Please join me!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: assurance, Bible, Calvary Assembly of God, confidence, God's love, insurance, Jesus Christ, prayer, promise. 2 Comments »

Thursdays With Oswald—Our Broken Treasures

November 7, 2013 — Craig T. Owens

This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

Our Broken Treasures

It is a revelation of pure joyousness in which the child of God pours into the Father’s bosom the cares which give pain and anxiety that He may solve the difficulties. Too often we imagine that God lives in a place where He only repairs our broken treasures, but Jesus reveals that it is quite otherwise; He discerns all our difficulties and solves them before us.

We are not beggars on the one hand or spiritual customers on the other; we are God’s children, and we just stay before Him with our broken treasures or our pain and watch Him mend or heal in such a way that we understand Him better.

From Christian Disciplines

I think we sometimes forget the infinite capacity of our Heavenly Father. He is All-Loving: no one has ever—or can ever—love more completely and deeply than He does. He is also All-Powerful: there isn’t anything that limits His potency. What an amazing combination! If God were only loving but not powerful, we couldn’t be sure He was able to answer our prayer. If God were only powerful but not loving, we wouldn’t be comfortable about bringing our concerns to Him.

But He is Both! And as such, we should have such rock-solid confidence that He not only can answer prayer, but that He wants to answer prayer. He answers, as Oswald Chambers says, in ways that reveal more of His nature to us, so that we can understand Him better and better through each answered prayer.

“Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.”

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: assurance, confidence, God's love, God's power, Heavenly Father, Oswald Chambers, peace, prayer, treasure. Leave a Comment »

A Tale Of Two Funerals

December 6, 2008 — Craig T. Owens

I was involved in two funerals in the last three days, and they couldn’t have been more different.

At both funerals people said goodbye in their own way.

At both funerals family members cried.

At both funerals there was singing.

At both funerals the life of the deceased was celebrated.

At both funerals loved ones grieved.

The huge difference was how they grieved.

The Apostle Paul wrote, “Brothers and sisters, we want you to know about those Christians who have died so you will not be sad, as others who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13).

Paul says that we are sad, we grieve, but we grieve differently when we have hope. What hope? The hope of life after death. The hope that only belief in Jesus can bring. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in Me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in Me and believes in Me will never ever die” (John 11:25-26).

At Thursday’s funeral the family grieved deeply because they had no hope of life after death, no assurance, only wishful thinking.

At today’s funeral it was a joy to grieve with a family because they had such solid hope! They have an absolute, unshakable assurance that their loved one has life after death. And that makes all the difference in the world in how they will grieve.