Consecration and the Assurance of Faith (Rewritten)

It’s hardly necessary to say much more to highlight just how important the assurance of faith really is. Anyone who genuinely longs for holiness of heart will naturally place great value on assurance, because holiness — understood in the gospel sense — is simply perfect love. And perfect love grows out of a mature, confident faith. In other words, deep assurance and deep holiness rise together.

When we look carefully at what assurance of faith actually is, it seems to rest on two essential elements. First, there is a steady, unshakable confidence in God — his character, his ways, and his promises. Second, there is a confident belief that we ourselves are accepted by God through Christ. Assurance is not limited to this personal element alone, as some people assume. Personal confidence rests on a broader, settled trust in God as a whole. Without that foundation, personal assurance has no place to stand.

With this understanding in mind, we now turn to the central theme of this post: the relationship between consecration and assurance. Earlier — especially in this post: How We Can Attain a Holy Life — we discussed the connection between consecration and faith in general. Faith, particularly the kind that claims God’s promises and purifies the heart, cannot coexist with deliberate, known sin. The two oppose and cancel each other out. To the extent that consecration is real — that is, to the extent that a person is genuinely resolved, with God’s help, to resist sin in all its forms — faith is free to enter and work powerfully in the soul.

Jesus himself made this clear when he said that those who seek human approval rather than the honor that comes from God are unable to believe in the true spiritual sense (John 5:44). Divided loyalty undermines real faith.

1. Consecration as the Condition of Assurance

Turning now from the general to the specific, the first thing to say is this: assurance of faith, like every form of spiritual faith, is a gift from God. No one possesses it apart from divine grace. Yet God does nothing without purpose. God does not bestow assurance randomly or without reason. There is always something in place — some condition or preparation — through which God chooses to give this gift.
This condition is not meritorious; it does not obligate God. Still, it is an essential part of his order and wisdom. And that condition, as clearly as we can see it, is consecration. Not partial consecration, but complete consecration — a deliberate, lasting surrender of the whole person to God.

If lesser degrees of consecration may allow for lesser degrees of faith, full assurance requires a consecration that matches it. That means a dedication of body and spirit, of self and possessions — entire, permanent, and irrevocable. Nothing held back, nothing reserved.

2. Why Full Consecration Must Precede Full Assurance

Let’s now consider why entire consecration must come before full assurance of faith.

Assurance, as commonly understood, includes both complete confidence in God’s truth, mercy, and justice and a confident belief that we ourselves are fully accepted by him through Christ. Those who possess assurance doubt neither God’s character nor their standing as his children.

But it should be obvious that a person cannot honestly believe they are fully accepted by God while knowingly disobeying him. And that is precisely what happens when someone refuses full consecration. Such a belief would contradict the normal workings of the human conscience.

To put it plainly, it would be like believing that someone you continually mistreat — someone who knows exactly what you’re doing — still regards you as a trusted friend. There’s a moral contradiction there. The two things cannot exist together.

Beyond that, believing that God fully accepts us while we knowingly withhold ourselves from him implies that sin does not truly displease God. That idea runs against reason, against God’s character, and against Scripture. It is not something a clear conscience can sustain.

The conclusion, then, is unavoidable: assured confidence in God, combined with assured confidence in our personal acceptance, cannot exist apart from entire consecration. We must be conscious that we are doing all we know to do to fulfill God’s will — turning away from every voluntary sin, faithfully carrying out every known duty, and placing all our abilities, possessions, and gifts fully and deliberately on God’s altar, with no intention of reclaiming them.

The person who is truly consecrated longs above all else not to offend God, even in the smallest matter. Such a person would rather die than knowingly commit even the slightest sin.

In this condition, faith finds solid ground. Trust comes naturally. The obstacles that once made belief difficult are gone. The soul turns easily toward God and rests in him. The Holy Spirit works freely in a heart that offers no resistance. God’s promises are received without hesitation. Doubting feels wrong — even sinful — and with God’s help, the soul rises into the deep rest of assurance.

3. Why Assurance May Not Always Come Immediately

One final point deserves attention. Although full assurance eventually follows true consecration in all healthy minds, it does not always appear immediately. Various factors may delay it for a time: lack of understanding about faith, old habits of unbelief, or influences that do not disappear all at once.

There may also be reasons known only to God for delaying this gift temporarily — especially the aspect of assurance related to personal acceptance. Scripture acknowledges this when it says, “You have need of patience… for yet a little while, and he who is coming will come and will not delay” (Hebrews 10:36–37).

Still, God never delays without purpose. The delay lasts only as long as it serves the person’s true good. Often, it is meant to strip away every remaining tendency to rely on signs, feelings, or special experiences instead of simple, childlike trust in God’s word.

There may be some hidden reliance — perhaps barely recognized — that still needs to be surrendered. But once it is brought into the light and laid down, it will be removed. God does not withhold himself from anyone who is fully prepared — someone who, having entirely consecrated themselves, is willing to live by faith alone, regardless of comfort or difficulty, clarity or darkness.

“Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord… and I will receive you, and I will be a Father to you.”

A Personal Appeal

So, I ask you, reader, whether you have been able to apply these truths personally.

• Do you believe that God calls you to holiness — and that he has provided for your sanctification in this life? Have you felt the weight of that calling? Trusting in the same atoning work of Christ that secures forgiveness, have you deliberately placed everything on God’s altar?
• Have you believed that God is true to his promise — that from the moment you surrendered all, you were accepted by him? Is your faith not only personal and appropriating, but strong and confident? Is it the faith of assurance — the kind that lifts a person above self, above form, above mere words, into the living reality of God?

The path God sets before us is narrow, as Scripture says. But it leads somewhere. And it is unlike any other path. I ask you, guided by an honest Christian conscience, whether this way of complete surrender and unwavering trust is not the true path to knowing God inwardly and deeply.

If you can point to no better way — either by Scripture or reason — then do not delay. Stop feeding on what cannot satisfy. Lay down the life of self, and receive the life of love. Give yourself wholly to God, so that God may be wholly yours.

 

 I sat me down in earth's benighted vale,
And had no courage and no strength to rise;
Sad to the passing breeze I told my tale,
And bowed my head and drained my weeping eyes.
But Faith came by, and took me by the hand;
And now the valleys rise, the mountains fall;
Welcome the stormy sea! the dangerous land!
With Faith to aid me, I can conquer all.

 

 

 

 

 

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This is a revision of Part 1, Chapter 8 of Thomas C. Upham's book The Interior or Hidden Life (2nd edition 1844), written with the assistance of Microslop CoPilot. The original chapter can be found here: Relation of consecration to assurance of Faith. Supporting material — statements and testimonies — about the Assurance of Faith can be found in the previous chapter: Of Assurance of Faith.