I accepted the Lord as my Savior but haven’t felt God’s presence. Does this mean I’m not saved?
Thank you, my dear friend, for asking about this. Your question gets at the very heart of our Christian faith, so it is extremely important to understand this! The immediate answer to your question is this: if you have truly believed on the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, and by this I mean that you have given up any and all thoughts of earning salvation by your own worthiness or good works and that you have trusted only in the finished work of Christ Jesus on Calvary’s cross, then you are indeed saved, and the Holy Spirit (God) is most definitely present within you; this is true regardless of any “feelings” that you may or may not have. And how do we know that this is true, you might ask? It is because the Word of God tells us so in 1 Corinthians 6:19, “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” For Christians, our key word is not at all “feel”, but rather it is “faith” (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 5:1). We do not trust in feelings where God is concerned, but rather, we have faith and wholly believe the rock-solid truth of the written Word of God, which is infallible and true throughout, being inspired by the Holy Spirit. You might remember the old Christian song which says, “God said it, I believe it, and that settles it for me!” Indeed, I believe that the word “feel” or “feeling” is only found three times in the NT, and not one of these “feel” verses pertains to what we are talking about in your question.
Now, why do we need to be saved, and how do we know for sure that this has occurred? Again, we know these things by the testimony of the Word of God, regardless of our feelings about the matter. We know from Romans 3:10-24 that we all are guilty sinners before God, even if we do not just “feel” like sinners. We have the testimony of God’s Word that we all have sinned, and that there are none righteous in this world. Thus, we know by God’s Word that we cannot go to heaven if we are in our sins, and without salvation, we would all be doomed to receive the wrath and judgment of God as we read in Hebrews 9:27, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” (Read also James 2:10 and Romans 6:23). But now, by faith in the finished work of Christ Jesus on the cross of Calvary on our behalf, we know that our sins are forgiven. We know these things to be true by the testimony of God’s Word: “…we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace…” (Ephesians 1:7). We also read in 1 John 2:12: “I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.” Thus, regardless of how we might feel, God’s Word assures us that these wonderful promises are ours when we are saved, and this is based on the testimony of the Holy Spirit by God’s Word. What’s more, if you are saved, you are not only forgiven, but also justified, or declared righteous by God in His Word, never to be condemned under the law, and this is all by faith alone in the finished work of Christ Jesus on Calvary’s cross (Acts 13:38-39; Romans 3:24-26; Romans 4:4-5; Romans 5:1; Romans 8:1; and John 5:24).
And so, my dear friend, as to being assured of God’s presence with you, this too is a matter of faith in the rock-solid testimony of God’s Word, whether or not we “feel” He is present with us. Consider Romans 8:16 and Ephesians 2:13. We have the sure testimony of God’s Word that we are saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus, and as such are indwelt by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19; 1 John 4:13), and moreover, we are born again (1 Peter 1:23; Hebrews 10:16; 2 Corinthians 5:17). What’s more, when saved, we are brought into the very family of God as children. 1 John 3:1-2 says, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” (See also John 1:12). Thus, we know that the promises of God are true because the Bible tells us so. And even if we do not feel God’s presence in us, we can know with certainty that His Holy Spirit does indeed dwell within true believers on Christ Jesus (1 John 5:1-13; 1 Corinthians 3:16 and 6:19; John 14:17), and it is the testimony of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God which establishes this as a fact. Therefore, my dear friend, if you are truly trusting in Christ Jesus as your Savior, then you should have no doubt about the fact that God is present with you and in you, just as the Bible says. (SF) (579.2)