The certainty of faith is utter assurance because it depends upon nothing of your own. It is entirely trusting that God is a propitious, pardoning God—the God who justifies sinners by forgiving them.
Sinners get faith as a gift when Christ takes their captivity captive.

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He declared you what you might not always feel you are, but what you were from the moment he knew you, before you were you, when he foreknew you.
A “good death” and “good life” are not accomplished through personal striving but are grasped by faith in the promises of God.
Do our petitions move God?
This feast is the Gospel, “the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.”
In this article Amy Mantravadi give a short but helpful summary of the differences in Lutheran and Reformed thought regarding assurance.
God has a hall ready for us, for us and for so many more
Confession and absolution offer more than assurance, they gift real and genuine Divine promises.
Finding rest in God when the “what ifs”come calling
We know that death does not have the last word in Christ.
If Jesus did not rise, then religion is just religion — a mere anthropological phenomenon.
Christ Jesus brings his word and presence to where you are and he is even willing to do so through the likes of your personally present pastor.
God wants his word of promise to be the only thing we bank on, the only thing we have confidence in.