Assurance Of Salvation

" That some Christians fall into doubt regarding the state of thier sould is not always a bad thing. Their failure to believe and trust in the certainty of their salvation is not a failure of faith on their part but a merciful gift from God."

-Signs Of The Spirit, Sam Storms, Pg. 72

Excercise Of The Spirit

"But 'persons being disposed to abound and to be zealously engaged in the eternal exercises of religion, and to spend much time in them, is no sure evidence of grace; because such a disposition is found in many that have no grace.'"

-Signs Of The Spirit, Sam Storms, Pg. 69

The Spirit

"And who that considers what man's nature is, and what the nature of the affections are, can reasonably doubt but that such unutterable and glorious joys, may be too great and mighty for weak dust and ashes, so as to be considerably overbearing to it? It is evident by the Scripture, that ture divine discoveries, or ideas of God's glory, when given in a great degree, have a tendency, by affecting the mind, to overbear the body; because the Scripture teaches us often, that if these ideas or views should be given to such a degree, as they are given in heaven, the weak frame of the body could not subsist under it, and that no man can, in that manner, see God and live."

-Signs Of The Spirit, Sam Storms, Pg. 62

True Spirituality

"Whereas true spirituality will always manifest itself in powerful and intense affections, the latter alone are not proof that one is regenerate."

-Signs Of The Spirit, Sam Storms, Pg. 61

Saving Activity Of God's Spirit

"But the mere presence of intense and heartfelt affections is itself no proof that one is the object of the saving activity of God's Spirit. We must be diligent to distinguish between affections that are genuine and God-gi ven and those that are not."

-Signs Of The Spirit, Sam Storms, Pg. 59

Importance of Community

“Those who lack friends to open themselves unto are cannibals of their own hearts….This communicating of a man’s self to his friends works two contrary effects; for it redoubles joys and cuts griefs in half.”

Francis Bacon, “Of Friendship,” 1625

The Spirit

"So has God disposed things, in the affair of our redemption, and in his glorious dispensations, revealed  to us in the gospel, as though everything were purposely contrived in such a manner, as to have the greatest possible tendency to reach our hearts in the most tender part, and move our affections most sensibly and strongly."

-Signs Of The Spirit, Sam Storms, Pg. 58