If you want to know the doctrine of someone, all your have to do is this: Just listen to their prayers carefully.

For example, if they think that they have to hold on to their salvation tightly so that they would make it to the end, to heaven, they pray something like this:

Oh, God, help me to pray hard so I can hold on to You. Forgive me that I didn’t fast for 10 days last month as I always do every month. Help me to hold on to my salvation.

Yes, our prayers reveal our doctrines, teachings we hold on to dearly. So, sometimes it is good to write out our prayers to see if they at least remotely relate to the teachings of the Bible and/or prayers of people recorded in the Bible.

You see, when it comes to our salvation, we didn’t save ourselves, did we? If we didn’t, how could we imagine securing our salvation? If we think that we are holding on to God, do you think we can hold on to Him to the end?

I won’t and I am so thankful and grateful that God is the One who is holding me.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that [your faith] not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” Ephesians 2:8NASB

It is through God’s own grace and mercy that we are saved. Our faith in Christ itself is a gift of God. It is He who began this beautiful life in us and He is the One to finish it.

“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2KJV

That is why we always get up in the morning and praise and honor our God for saving us! We are saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved! This is the teaching of the Bible.

Sure the Bible also talks about apostasy:

“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,” 1 Timothy 4:1ESV

This same Bible also says:

“I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5ESV, and

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”” John 10:27-30ESV

It is wise for Christians to thank God for His faithfulness to finish the work He has started in them. When it comes to apostasy, a Christian prays from the root of apostasy, such as proud eyes, envious heart and arrogant attitude towards God’s grace and mercy.

Some people argue saying, “But the word of God tells us to finish or work out our salvation in Philippians 2:12-13. That is why we need to pray for God to help us to finish our salvation.”

Philippians 2:12-13 reads,

“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

This passage actually talks about how God has done His work in us, started and finished the work of salvation in us, and what is left for us is to show the work of God in and through our lives. As we abide to the Vine, we branches will most definitely bear fruits. So, what is our work? Our “work” is to abide in the Vine, in the word of God so that the work of God in us will be shown in and through us. If it is not shown, it is a sign that there is no work of God in us. We are just acting like a Christian and speaking and singing in “Christianize.”

Here is the punch-line: Christianity is not the work man, but the work of God, from start to finish! ///