Test!

There is appearance and there is reality -- and it is vitally important to discern between them, especially regarding matters of the spirit. Though you might feel rejected and forlorn at times, if you are God's child you can trust that you are truly loved and that God will never abandon you. Even if you experience chastening and feel sorrow, you should realize your affliction is intended to purge you as God instills a deeper heart connection within you. If you feel desperate or hopeless you can turn to God who alone creates yesh ma'ayin, "everything out of nothing." In your nothingness look to Him: your affliction distills the truth within your heart. These words comfort those who are "poor in spirit," that is, those who are utterly undone by their sinful nature and radically understand that they are powerless to change themselves apart from divine intervention, just as they offend those who trust in themselves and who believe that they can "make it" by means of their own resolve, energy, and virtues. Be careful. It is entirely possible to experience profound religious feelings, to assent to beliefs that derive from the Bible, and to do good deeds -- and yet to be lost and devoid of saving faith (Matt. 7:21-32). Self-deception, that is, believing something about yourself that isn’t true, is a real danger, and the risk is to go through life thinking you are “on your way to heaven” only to face terrible disappointment in the end. It is a great danger to walk through life asleep only to be jolted awake upon the day of death. "The greatest danger is that one does not discover, that one is not always discovering, that one is in danger" (Kierkegaard). In light of such dreadful possibility we must test ourselves to see if we are truly reborn children of God. Take account and ask yourself some challenging questions. Be rigorously honest. Have you experienced regeneration? Have you encountered the truth and reality of the life of God? Yeshua solemnly affirmed: "You must be born again" (δεῖ ὑμᾶς γεννηθῆναι ἄνωθεν). Do you know what he meant by these words? Have you made contact with divine power? The life of God within the heart creates an infinite difference - the difference between eternal life and eternal death, and therefore it is a matter of ultimate concern that you receive this life. Examine yourself; pour out your heart to heaven and ask God for discernment to soberly assess your spiritual condition... [Hebrew for Christians]