My area of expertise (quite ironically) seems to be the assurance of salvation since I have backslid so many times, I have been dogged by this issue, and have had to repent and do the first things over and go back to square one so to speak. Sometimes I have compared myself to other Christians and have been discouraged, e.g., when they say they hear God's voice audibly and I don't, I think something is wrong, but later God reassures me.
If you just go by feelings it seems like I have been saved many times over, but that is not biblical. The Bible makes it clear that if you could lose your salvation, you cannot regain it (See Heb. 6:1-9). God wants you to stand on the promises of God and "rely" on His Word, not go by experience or feeling. We do not walk in the "glow" of some mountaintop experience or cling to the memory of some emotional or ecstatic encounter, we learn to have faith that is tested and proven. God isn't impressed with feelings as much as by faith!
I know the best assurance is that which comes from a holy and obedient life per Is. 32:17 which says, "The fruit of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance." Disobedience and consequent chastisement take away ones feeling of the joy of salvation and one may doubt his position in Christ.
My assurance comes from John 5:24, which says that He who comes to Christ will in no wise be cast out--that's my spiritual birth-certificate! God said it in His Word, I believe it in my heart, that settles it in my mind! No one is ever lost in the shuffle due to the Golden Chain of Redemption in Rom. 8:29-30. Soli Deo Gloria!
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