Tell me, do you ever get attacked by Satan? If so, do you fight back? If so, why? I thought it was all a one-time thing and we never had to lift a finger. I used to think that any Christian who thought that the devil could hurt them, was in unbelief. Then the devil took advantage of a more opportune time, and tricked me into believing something that turned out false. Except for God's intervention, I would've died. I'm serious. I found out 20 years ago that it is not the enemy without that will usually get you, it's the enemy within that will. Look at the state of America. - What Jesus did on the cross on our behalf, pays for our redemption 100%. Spirit, soul and body. Any effort to add to it is actually unbelief, and since it takes faith to please God, I choose the latter. I reached a point some years ago when I realized that not only was my striving to please God and earn His love and acceptance unproductive, I was to stop it and instead trust God and enter into His sabbath rest, loved and accepted by my Heavenly Father. So I can rest from my works (not works that come through faith). Regarding my salvation, I have peace. Jesus is the author and finisher of our salvation. Jesus saves, not man saves himself. Not even an atom.
Mercy - I didn't get what I deserved, whew!
Grace - I got what I didn't deserve, thank You, Jesus.
As far as the assurance of my eternal destination goes, God and I worked this out years ago. The ongoing sanctification has nothing to do with justification except that sanctification is made possible by being justified in God's court of law. I am innocent of breaking God's holy laws, period. - First and foremost, I am a spirit being. The soul and the body came along later. It's all about healing. Nearly 2 years ago, God told me that He had just finished circumcising my heart. Though I soon realized that the old man was not done away with quite yet. What a drag! Oh well. This is so He can move through me unhindered by my soul and also make me more sensitive to Him. He moved through me twice so I could see the difference myself. Once before the circumcision, it was a struggle to let go and sit down in myself so Jesus could take over, and once after, when He moved through me with no resistance from me. It's made a huge difference. What I'm talking about here is how God is making me an effective spiritual warrior. The word says that the new is come and that the old is gone. We are, before we were ever anything else, spirit. The new and old is talking about the spirit. I die in Christ and I'm resurrected in Christ. But not all at once. It is no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me. And the life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of Man, who gave Himself for me. Look it up. The daily cross is a sin at a time. This process will bring about healing but if it happened all at once, we'd explode. So it's piece by piece. This is plenty hard enough. If you want to avoid suffering, then this is not for you. Jesus said that unless you 1-deny self, 2-take up your cross daily, you cannot follow Him. "for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls." 1 Peter 1:9, "where they strengthened the believers. They encouraged them to continue in the faith, reminding them that we must suffer many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God." Acts 14:22 New Living Translation Peace.