Now, you may ask what burning cedar and sin have in common, or have one with the other.
This morning I fed my wood stove early in the morning with some small cedar blocks to boost the heat output. Later on when I opened the door to add more firewood, bits of cedar hot coals spit out onto the floor.
It crossed my mind at that time that sin is just like that. When we open the door to sin, a small fire begins to grow in you. The more you add to its pleasures, the hotter it gets. And when you try to close the door on it on your own, you are able to control it for a short time. But later on as temptation arises and you give in that temptation and open up the door once again, sin spits out at you with even more fury, consuming you. I had a hard time controlling the embers of coal that were spitting out at me. Each time I reached out and picked up one ember and opened the door to throw it back into the firebox, another ember spit out at me, and often a few more would come at the same time, to the point that I was having a hard time to keep it under control. Isn't that just like sin. The more we play with it, the more it keeps coming at us. The moral of this little story is, do not open the door to sin at any time. And if you have, then lock the door permanently to it, so that it cannot gain control over you ever again. The more you play with sin, the more it controls you. And the harder it is after the fact to get rid of it.
Remember, you cannot control sin, it controls you.
Sin - Part II
Some of you, like me often at times flirt with sin. You think you can sin and get away with it. It is like playing with matches and dynamite. You can play a while, but in time, you will get hurt.
Most of you have flirted with sin, and paid the consequences, only to go back and play and play and play again. How long do you think you can continue to flirt with sin? Do you really think you can keep on playing with sin and not get hurt? Do you think you can keep on sinning for a long time and escape any pain, any hurt, any judgment of God? Is. 28:22; Do you think God will allow you to forever keep on in your sin? Do you as a parent allow your sons and daughters to continually get away from wrong doing? Would God also not allow you to continue in wrong doing?
Gal. 6:7-8 God makes it plain.
"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." (‘Gal 6:7 KJV)
These verses tell us that God will not allow us to continue on in sin forever. In time He will judge and pass punishment on those who continue in sin habitually. It could be with death, with disease, with loss of loved ones. Who knows? God Knows!
Is aids a disease of those who are obeying the Word of God? Is syphilis, is gonorrhea, or any other sexually transmitted disease a judgment against those who obey God and His ways?
Sexual immorality after all kills and destroys more families, friends etc than does any other sin, be it with drugs, alcohol etc.
Go ahead and continue in your sin if you wish. Play with it. Seek it out. Cruise the saunas, seek out another thrill. Go to the bars. Pick up another one.
It really does not matter, because there is no God to stop me to do what I want to do. I can do whatever I want and there are no consequences. So goes the thinking of most of the world. Are you part of the most of the world? Do you really think God is not real? Perhaps you think He is blind and cannot see your sins. I won't bother to quote you verses that say otherwise. Because some of you think He is blind, or turns His eye away from your sins.
I am ashamed of some of you, because you behave like the world. Behaving as if God is blind, as if He will turn a blind eye away from your sins. Believing there is no consequence from you sexual immorality.
Is not your body, a temple, a temple belonging to Christ? Therefore when you are using your body for sinful acts, are you not also using your body for Christ. Therefore you are using Christ for your sexual immorality. Will you continue to mutilate, to crucify the body of Christ with your sexual immorality? You put the body of Christ world wide to shame when you sin this way. You put to shame the witness of the world body of Christ. How can we as a body of Christ proclaim Him when we disgust and abuse ourselves sexually with the whole world watching. Do you not think others see what you do? Do you not think others whom have heard you proclaim Christ also see you disclaim the witness of Christ with your sin?
I will not turn my back on you, nor will God. BUT!! He will neither allow you to continue in your sins for very long before He has to stop you and punish you. If you are not serious about change, will God be about helping you to change?
Rom. 1:18-32 is telling look at not only the past Gentile world and judgment, but of also today, for the world is no different for many go about flouting their sin and going about in their sin thinking that they can do what they want believing that no harm can come to them.
Do not be so foolish my friends. The time is here and is coming very quickly when once again the wrath of God will descend. Yes, you may get away with your sins for a time. But in time God will also reign in his patience and will wreak havoc and wrath on those whom practice immorality.
Go ahead and destroy your body if you will. Go ahead and take another child of God with you if you will and suffer the shame and consequences. But stop professing Christ if you will not obey and follow His ways. For how can you be a follower of Christ if you follow not Christ?
I would rather you, whom continue to flaunt and habitually sin would leave rather than destroy the witness of Christ. Sure. it is one thing to fall now and again. None of us is perfect, but to continue on habitually and then come back and cry I have done it again, is not repenting or turning your face to God.
This is hard and meant to be hard. Wake up. Smell the coffee. Smarten up and either work at change or go back into your caverns of sin.
Sin - Part III
Hi guys. Here is some food for thought. May God use it to bless you, encourage and uplift you.
andré
Recently while reading a book I came across these words in a fictional story about a China man and an American business man who were once Harvard room mates. They were both standing on the Great Wall of China and the American saw the greatness and technical marvel of Chinese ingenuity. The Chinese saw the deaths of millions and the sorrow and pain of the slaves who built the wall.
The Chinese fellow said that we in the America's only see what the Chinese authority wants us to see, we do not see the whole picture, we do not see what went behind the building of the wall. We do not see the misery, the persecution of the Chinese Christians and of the poor in China.
He used the following to illustrate this point.
A frog was in a well. A bird stopped to drink at the well. They argued about how the sky looked. The frog thought it looked very small. The bird thought it was very big.
The bird could see the sky as it really was. The frog could only see a part of it.
We also do not always see clearly as we think we do see.
I am reminded that our lives on this earth are a reflection of this story. Especially our spiritual lives. We see and often act and react according to what the world, and to what Satan whispers in our ears. Consequently more times than not we take the wrong step and we fall into sin. As you know the result is pain and suffering, perhaps even death.
God cannot allow us to sin. He gives us ample opportunity to repent and come back to Him. But again, as often as not, we forget the bird in the sky view of what God sees and we listen to the words of Satan and of the world. We hear only the views of the frog.
God has given us His instruction book to help us to walk as He would wish us to walk to avoid the pitfalls of sin. We are fortunate in this day in age to have the Bible so available to us. Sadly it sits too often on the shelf collecting dust. What good is an instruction book on the shelf if all it does is collect dust. It would be like a student trying to do repairs to the carburetor in your car without having first some instructions on how to do the repairs. The result of course would be perhaps pain, suffering and quite possibly death.
The Chinese man said something interesting. He said; "The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right name."
As sinners we tend to want to give in to our sins, that is we want to hang on to them often because instead of seeing things as God sees them we believe the lies, and Satan, being the great deceiver that he is calls things the opposite of what things really are.
So where do we turn to, to learn and the truth. The Bible is God's truth.
Ps. 111:10 says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments."
Also Prov. 1:7 says; "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; but fools despise wisdom and instruction."
If we want to be wise and live a Godly life we need to follow the wisdom of God found only in the Bible. If we want His understanding and to live according to His commandments we need to be reading His Words.
A Bible sitting on the shelf collecting dust is as worthless as the car repair manual also collecting dust. It is totally worthless.
God instructed the people in the days of Joshua to put the words of the Lord in front of their eyes, to put them on their door posts and gates so that they will be forever reading them and learning His ways and words and instructions. In so doing, they will by way of absorbing God's words, begin to not only read, but also to live a godly life and thus avoid the pitfalls of sin. Because, when you are reading and living, and breathing God's Word daily, you are not falling into the well and only seeing a portion of what God wants you to see. You are seeing and living the whole of Him. And thus you will not fall into the temptations and snares of the world and the devil. You will not be believing and listening to the lies and misrepresentation of the world and Satan.
God wants us to live a joyful life with Him as our Father and guide. He wants to be part of your life. He wants to live in you, and you in Him.
Take a moment and reflect and think hard on your own personal life and see if you are listening to the words of the frog or of the bird.
Perhaps you are listening to the frog and you are grappling and struggling with your sins, struggling with your addictions. Perhaps it is time to climb out of the well of despair and fly and be as a bird and live your life the way God intended it to be.
We do not always see as clearly as we think we do when we are living in a well. But surely if we climb out and fly in the glory and brightness of the Lord, we will see things clearly as they are. We will then ignore and walk away from the temptations and lusts of the world and be free. Jesus wants you to be free. He said the Truth shall set you free.
Do you want to be free?
Take that Bible now off of the shelf. Dust it off. Toss away things on your computer, books and things of the world that corrupt your mind, and begin a new day, a new way and fly and be free.
As one radio Bible broadcaster says; "Have a good and godly day; for what lasting value is a good day, if it is also not a godly day."
Faith is trust something that you can not see with your eyes.
It is to believe that someone or God can or will do something that is normally unusual, or nor expected.
In the past I illustrated faith when I told you about people who would not walk on the glass floor at the top of the C.N. Tower, and how a guy could walk across a cable with a wheel barrel across Niagara Falls.
Today God asked them to do something very unusual.
And they were expected to obey and do it in faith, expecting God to free them from the bondage of slavery in a very spectacular way.
God told them through Moses to kill an innocent lamb, one that was in perfect shape physically.
They were to paint the spilled blood from the lamb on both sides of the door at the front of the homes and also on top of the door as well.
God was going to send His Holy Spirit to pass over all the homes of all the Egyptians and all the Israelites.
And he was was going to kill all the first born of every family home that did not have the blood of the lamb pinted around the doors of their homes.
The innocent lamb was a symbol of the first born in the Israeli homes.
This sacrifice was a symbol which the people of Israel understood.
An innocent life had to be taken to spare them from death.
They did not undertsand at the time that this was also a symbol looking far ahead into time when Jesus would be offered as a sacrificial lamb to save the world from the punishment of their sins.
Romans 6:23 tells us the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.
Or has John 3:16 says; "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (King James Version)
The people had lived in the land of Egypt for 400 years and they must have been very failiar with the gods of Egypt.
Did you know that the Egyptians had a god for almost everything? They had a god for the water, a gof for the cattle, a good for the sun, moon and stars and on and on.
God showed the people of Egypt that there is no God like Himself.
Their god had no power, they were useless.
Through the plaugues God demonstrated His power to the people of Israel.
He showed them that He was powerful enough to free them from the bondage of slavery from the Egyptians.
When it came time for the people of Israel to step out in faith, they were ready.
With this last plague it seemed like the pharoh and the people of Egypt finally got the message.
They finally believed that the God of Israel was the real God and that He was more powerful than their own gods.
At this point they were anxious for the people of Israel to leave because they feared that God would kill them all if they did not leave.
That evening before the Plague began, God instructed the people again through Moses to bake a loaf of unleaven bread.
Unleaven bread simply means a bread that does not rise. It is flat bread.
They were instructed from that time onward to eat unleaven bread every year and to celebrate celebrate the feast of the Passover every year as a reminder of how He, God had freed them and delivered the people of Israel out of the bondage of slavery from Egypt.
Just like God was watching over the people of Israel that night, God is always watching over you to.
He is always watching over you, to protect you from harm.
And just as he promised to free them from the bondage of slavery, God also promises us, that He will and wants to free us from the bondage of sin.
Jesus is always watching over you and He wants to help you to keep away from sin.
To be in bondage to sin is like this.
Call a Volunteer.
As I wrap a single thread once around the wrists with gloves on say:
Everyone of us has lied at one time or another, and most of us tell lies often.
Many people think it is okay if they tell just one lie.
They think that there is no harm in that.
No one gets hurts.
It's no big deal.
Tell volunteer to break the thread.
They think that if I only do it once, I will have no problem stopping and never telling another lie.
It's the same thing with kids who think that having one cigarette or one beer is okay.
They can stop and never do it again.
Then later on, they get together with friends who offer them another cigarette or another bottle of booze.
Again, just like lying, it's no big deal.
I can quit whenever I want.
Continue wrapping thread around the wrist several times Ask volunteer to try break the thread. It gets harder doesn't it.
Once again, you get together with friends and again they offer you cigarettes or booze, but you say, no, I really shouldn't.
But they keep coaxing you and finally you give in and you have another cigarette or another beer.
Continue wrapping the thread
And it happens again and again and each time you think you can stop whwenever you want, but each time you find that it is harder and harder to resist.
Every sin is like that!
Just like the thread, the more I wrap around ( ) wrists, the harder and harder it gets to break it.
Sin is just like that.
The first time you do it, it is no big deal.
The next time does not seem so bad, no one is getting hurt, so why not, do it again.
Soon you find that you are doing the same sins over and over again, and like the thread wrapped around ( ) wrists, it gets too hard to quit.
You just can quit it on your own
So what's the solution? How do you quit?
The answer is Jesus.
When a sin becomes a habit, you need to turn to jesus and pray and ask him to help you get free of that sin.
He will come and help you to be free of that certain sin if you are serious about wanting to quit, and if you are serious about wanting Him to help you.
On your own, you'll never be able to quit.
But with God, all thyings are possible and he will set you Free1!!!!
CUT THE THREAD
Just like God wanted to free the Israelites from the bondage of slavery in Egypt, God also wants yo set you free from the bondage of sin, if you will let Him.
Will You Let Him?
What are some sins that have you in Bondage?
Worries, fears, lying, stealing, cheating - all these things can keep you in bondage. All these things and any other sin can keep you from being free
They keep us from being happy.
They keep us from praising and worshipping and spending time with God.
They make us sad.
They also separate us from the love of God
So Again, who and what can set you from from your sins?
God can set you from from your sins.
What's the best way to not get involved in any sin?
Answer, to always obey God and do what is right.
If you alway obey Him, and do what is right, you will not have to worry about getting involved in sins and becoming a slave to it.
When you obey and do what is right, God will lead you to a happy life and then in the final victory over sin, He will take you to heaven to be with Him Forever.
Praise God !!!
Everyone sitting quiet
Think now for a few moments of some sins that you might be a slave to like lying, cheating, worrying etc.
God wants to set you free from those sins right now, today.
So close your eyes and pray for a minute asking first that He will forgive you of those sins and then ask Him to help you to break free and to be free forever from those sins.
When God sets you free you will have joy in your heart that you never knew. It helps us to be more happy and to love Him more.
God we thank you that you love us so much that you sent Jesus to set us free from the burdens of our sins. We give you our lives today and ask that you would work in our hearts to set us free. We love you and thank you because the freedom you give us lasts forever.
In Jesus name.
Amen
God is the Potter Hi Guys, here is a little something for thought.
It is said that Michaelangelo never used a model to sculpt. It is said he had the image in his mind what he wanted to carve, and it was just as matter for him to remove the excessive material from the block of marble to reveal the image inside.
We are told that God is also a potter. That He molds us and makes us into the image He wants us to be.
When you come to Him confessing your sins and confessing your desire to allow Him to change you, that He to already has an image of you in His mind of what he wants you to be like. You to, already have that potential within you to be that model he wants you to be. It's up to you now to allow Him to begin the work on you to take away the things that cover up the sculptured image He has prepared for you.
I urge you to now allow Him to chip away the sins, the dirt and things that are covering up the image within that He has prepared for you.
How about it?
Who Are You Listening to? Hi guys. Here is some food for thought. May God use it to bless you, encourage and uplift you.
André
Recently while reading a book I came across these words in a fictional story about a China man and an American business man who were once Harvard room mates. They were both standing on the Great Wall of China and the American saw the greatness and technical marvel of Chinese ingenuity. The Chinese saw the deaths of millions and the sorrow and pain of the slaves who built the wall.
The Chinese fellow said that we in the America's only see what the Chinese authority wants us to see, we do not see the whole picture, we do not see what went behind the building of the wall. We do not see the misery, the persecution of the Chinese Christians and of the poor in China.
He used the following to illustrate this point.
A frog was in a well. A bird stopped to drink at the well. They argued about how the sky looked. The frog thought it looked very small. The bird thought is was very big.
The bird could see the sky as it really was. The frog could only see a part of it.
We also do not always see clearly as we think we do see.
I am reminded that our lives on this earth are a reflection of this story. Especially our spiritual lives. We see and often act and react according to what the world, and to what Satan whispers in our ears. Consequently more times than not we take the wrong step and we fall into sin. As you know the result is pain and suffering, perhaps even death.
God cannot allow us to sin. He gives us ample opportunity to repent and come back to Him. But again, as often as not, we forget the bird in the sky view of what God sees and we listen to the words of Satan and of the world. We hear only the views of the frog.
God has given us His instruction book to help us to walk as He would wish us to walk to avoid the pitfalls of sin. We are fortunate in this day in age to have the Bible so available to us. Sadly it sits too often on the shelf collecting dust. What good is an instruction book on the shelf if all it does is collect dust. It would be like a student trying to do repairs to the carburetor in your car without having first some instructions on how to do the repairs. The result of course would be perhaps pain, suffering and quite possibly death.
The Chinese man said something interesting. He said: "The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right name."
As sinners we tend to want to give in to our sins, that is we want to hang on to them often because instead of seeing things as God sees them we believe the lies, and Satan, being the great deceiver that he is calls things the opposite of what things really are.
So where do we turn to, to learn and the the truth. The Bible is God's truth.
Ps. 111:10 says: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments..."
Also Prov. 1:7 says: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction." (both King James Version)
If we want to be wise and live a Godly life we need to follow the wisdom of God found only in the Bible. If we want His undertsnding and to live according to His commandments we need to be reading His Words.
A Bible sitting on the shelf collecting dust is as worthless as the car repair manual also collecting duct. It is totally worthless.
God instructed the people in the days of Joshua to put the words of the Lord in front of their eyes, to put them on their door posts and gates so that they will be forever reading them and learning His ways and words and instructions. In so doing, they will by way of absorbing God's words, begin to not onlly read, but also to live a godly life and thus avoid the pitfalls of sin. Because, when you are reading and living, and breathing God's Word daily, you are not falling into the well and only seeing a portion of what God wants you to see. You are seeing and living the whole of Him. And thus you will not fall into the temptations and snares of the world and the devil. You will not be believing and listening to the lies and misrepresentation of the world and Satan.
God wants us to live a joyful life with Him as our Father and guide. He wants to be part of your life. He wants to live in you, and you in Him.
Take a moment and reflect and think hard on your own personal life and see if you are listening to the words of the frog or of the bird.
Perhaps you are listening to the frog and you are grappling and struggling with your sins, struggling with your addictions. Perhaps it is time to climb out of the well of despair and fly and be as a bird and live your life the way God intended it to be.
We do not always see as clearly as we think we do when we are living in a well. But surely if we climb out and fly in the glory and brightness of the Lord, we will see things clearly as they are. We will then ignore and walk away from the temptations and lusts of the world and be free. Jesus wants you to be free. He said the Truth shall set you free.
Do you want to be free?
Take that Bible now off of the shelf. Dust it off. Toss away things on your computor, books and things of the world that corrupt your mind, and begin a new day, a new way and fly and be free.
As one radio Bible broadcaster says; " Have a good and godly day; for what lasting value is a good day, if it is also not a godly day."
Sin is Like a Mud Puddle Sin is comparable to a mud puddle.
Okay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How so?
Well, remember when you were a little boy, and your parents always told you to stay out of the puddles.
But why? Simply, because they do not want you to get wet, your clothes to get wet, and mom does not have to wash dirty muddy clothes.
Okay. Now you are grown up. You to now have a little boy. And, one day you are walking with your little boy down the street just after a heavy rain. As you are walking along, you spot way ahead a mud puddle taking up the space of half the sidewalk ahead. As you approach it you like any other parent, instruct your little boy to stay out of the puddle.
Now if you have a normal boy, what does he do? He, seeing the puddle runs up to it and just as he is about to step into it, you yell out: “Stay out of the water!"
So the little boy stops in his tracks just on the edge of the puddle. But, of course, the temptation to walk into it works on his mind and cries, "go for it, walk right in." But, he hesitates a bit and looks at it and knowing that dad is right behind, he begins to skirt the puddle, but drags one foot into the puddle just a little bit. Did you see that? Though he was told not to step into the puddle, he drags his foot just slightly into the puddle.
Did he disobey his father? Sure he did. Well, one would argue, "No, he did not walk into the water. But, in fact, he did disobey his father. He was told to stay out of the water. True, though he did not walk fully into the puddle, he did drag one foot into the puddle.
So, the father lets it slide by, seeing as the boy did not walk fully into the puddle, he does not discipline the boy.
So, onward they go continuing on with their walk. And of course there are more puddles up ahead. So, as they approach the next puddle, again the father tells the little boy not to walk into the water. So, of course, and again, the little guy runs up ahead, and stops just before stepping into the mud puddle. This time he thinks, well I got away with dragging my foot into it the last time, so maybe I can just walk around the edge with both feet this time.
Well, this time dad gives the little fellow a scolding, but does not get very upset. And on they go until he sees another puddle ahead, but says nothing figuring this time the boy will stay out seeing as he scolded the little guy this last time.
So, yet once again the little boy runs up ahead, and ....................... .......................................................
Yup, you guessed it. This time he runs full fledge into the puddle.
Now is this scenario, a lot like temptations and sin? You see, for most things in our life, we are told ahead of time what is wrong and what is right. God has also written it in our hearts, what is right, and what is wrong. Rom. 2:15; Heb. 8:15; 10:16. But, we like to be in control and want to do what we feel like doing, even though we know that sins are wrong.
So, often enough we are having a great day, walking along our merry way until we see a mud puddle (sin). Now we are told in our hearts and by the Father, through His H.S. that we best not go there. Stay out of it. But temptations say, go ahead. Have a look. It can't hurt to just have a little look. So we go on ahead and drag our feet along the edge, not fully walking into it, yet getting oh so close.
Well, that was not so bad, we say to ourselves. Nothing happened, I did not get wet, really, and I did not hurt noone. So we go on again and yet around the corner we spot something again that attracts our attention. Now as we approach we think, well, the last time was okay, so why not look just a little closer this time. So we approach it and this time, though we go in with both feet just around the edge, we do not go quite all the way in, and we walk away feeling unscathed from this experience.
Now as we go farther along we again see something, another puddle that looks pretty clean and not very deep. And it seems to be filled with colours and things that really appeal to our senses. So, once again we go ahead, and this time we go fully into it. But this time, we realize, that we are dirty. The colours were oil, dirt. And we try to brush it off, but it is not coming off very well at all. And we feel guilty. We feel ashamed.
So we tell ourselves, "From now on, I will not go into that puddle again. And we go home, and we go to bed and forget about the day and rest well.
The next day we get up and off we go again. And...well, of course. We see another puddle, but we remember the last time. But, this time we think, well ya , I should not have done that, but it sure felt good when I did it. We walk around the puddle this time, and we look at it from every angle and after a time we just touch it with our toes. Well, that was not so bad. So off we go again, and again we fully immerse ourselves into the puddle of sin
Now we come out again and this time we get upset with ourselves because this time we are filthy with the sin from head to toe. And we try on our own to clean it off, but it sure sticks. We are unable to get rid of it. AS hard as we try, we each and every time go past it, but cannot resist. We continue the cycle of going back to the puddle and continue to get fully immersed in it, and each time we get upset with ourselves for having allowed the temptation to drag us in.
Is there no way out of this cycle of sin? "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Rom 7:24 (King James Version)
"For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.“ Rom. 7:15-8:1 (King James Version)
You see, that is the way of sin and temptation. We wish not to do wrong in our hearts, but because sin dwells in us, we are tempted to sin. But do we have to give in to sin? If we have Christ in us, we no longer need to give in to sin. Because He now lives in us we have His spirit living in us which we now need to submit to rather than submitting to the will of the flesh. As you read on in Rom. 8 1-13 we are given the truth that we need not walk after the will of the flesh because Christ now lives in us. We walk in sin, more than not, because e like he sin. But, we should not and need not.
When you start a new job, you have a whole set of new rules to follow after to do your job and to work as a team with people. Likewise when you became a Christian, you now have a whole new set of rules to follow after. You should not be following after rules of your past life.
1 Cor. 10:13 tells us: “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." (King James Version)
You se, because you are now a member of the household of God, and now have the Spirit of God abiding in you, you are to no longer follow after your old ways, but after the new rules, the new ways that He dictates in your heart. And He makes that power available to you to be able to escape any and all temptation, by delivering to you that power to flee temptations with the power that is also in Christ Jesus, who likewise when tempted in the desert by the devil also escaped temptations. How, with the Word of God in each and every situation. Matt. 4:1-11
You to are able to make the devil leave you Matt. 4:11, when you confront him (his temptations) with the Word of God. You get that Word by studying it. 2 Tim 3:15, but hiding it in your heart Ps. 119:11 and meditating upon it. Ps 1:2 When you do that, it becomes a part of you just as much as your skin is a part of you. You can call upon the Word of God at will and use it as as amour, as a weapon to defend yourself against the fiery darts of the devil. Eph. 6: 10-18 and by prayer.
So my friends, I would implore you, encourage you, to make the most of your time with God. Take time out at the beginning of the day as best as you are able, and make lots of one on one time with Him throughout your whole day, studying, meditating, memorizing in His Word and pray in all things. In this way when you come across puddles of sin, you will be able to skirt around and away from them with the Word of God, causing the devil to flee from you and, in this way you will be empowered to resist and flee temptations.
The reason many have problems in overcoming sin, is one they like their sins, but when you are a Christian, you struggle because you are not using and believing in the power that already dwells with you. Yes, there is sin dwelling in you. But you need not answer to sin dwelling in you. You need not let it be your master. You need not obey the rules of your past life.
You are now a child of God, whom has given you all that you need to be able to resist the power of sin in your life. Grasp hold of that power. Let it be your master, let Him be your strength to lead you to walk the way He wants and has designed you to walk. Listen now to the new rules now the old rules. You are no longer working for him who is the master of the spirit of the air but of Him whom is the master and creator of the universe.
When you were are child, you played and obeyed as a child, but now you are a mature man, stop playing in the puddles. Walk no longer in the puddles, but rather walk with Him.
What if God Was Sitting Right Beside Me?
Another way to think about it might be to think: "Would I do this if God was sitting right beside me?"
The fact of the matter is, if you are a child of God, He is there beside you and He knows everything you do, and every thought that crosses your mind.
Andre
Be Not Let this verse be your daily motto as you wake up in the morning till your last waking moment of the night as you fall asleep. If you heed by this verse, it may well help you not to back slide and fall into sin.
Andre
"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."
Romans 12:2 (King James Version)
Do Not Touch Here is an analogy of what sin is like. This was a skit put on by some youth from Word Of Life Ministry here in Canada at my home church this weekend.
A guy walks up to a chair with a sign on it that says: "Do Not Touch." Like many, we have a tendency to want to touch something that says: "Do Not Touch," like a painted object.
So, needless to say, he touches it with his hand by grabbing it by the back of the chair on the top. Suddenly he realizes that he is unable to let go of it. It is stuck to his hand as if with crazy glue. He swings it about trying to make it slip out. But it sticks like glue. A passer-byer walks by and he acts like nothing is wrong by casually leaning on the chair with his hand acting non-chalantly.
Thinking maybe if he grabbed the chair at the front of the seat, he will be able to make it to pull out of his hand by swinging it hard. This he does many times, but now also realizes that the chair is now stuck to both hands. He swings it about violently hoping it will fly away, but no, it sticks tightly to both hands. Again a passer-byer walks by and again he pretends all is well by doing pushups on the chair.
Now he puts his foot on top of the chairs seat and hopes to push it off and out of both hands. Now of course his foot is also now stuck. How foolish he must feel and look. He tries hard to push off the chair with his foot, but of course he has no success. Imagine the look on his face when someone approaches. He is faced squarely with the fact that he has indulged in sin, and is now chained to it. It has mastery over him.
A guy approaches with a Bible in his hand and realizes the predicament of this guy whom has made the mistake of touching, indulging in sin. He shows him God's plan of salvation though the scriptures. Gradually the light comes on and he realizes that he is a sinner, and that there is nothing he can do of himself to relieve himself of the malady. But, after he accepts this truth and accepts Jesus as his Savior, the shackles, the chains begin to slip off and one by one his limbs begin to come free of the hold of the chair, of his sin. He now finds that the chair, sin, no longer has him held in bondage.
We all can have freedom. We all can be freed from the bondage of any sin, if we accept the truth that we are all sinners and that the penalty of sin is death. Romans 6:23. But, fortunately that is not the bottom line, that is not the end of the story. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16 (King James Version)
This is no myth, this is no make belief story. It is a truth that we can believe and accept. We need not believe the lies of the world, and of Satan and think that we will forever be sinners stuck in our sins with no hope of change. If that were the case, then there would be no need for salvation, and no need for Christ to have died on the cross for our sins.
God is in the business of change. He is in the business of taking our sins, and washing them clean as if they never were. He will completely forget your sins forever if you but believe and accept the truth that your sins can be forgiven by the work that Jesus did of dying on the cross for your sins. This is a gift that you can do nothing to pay for. It is absolutely free. It is a wonderful gift. He is in the business of change. He can help you to make a 100% turn around to help you be free of the slavery of any sin.
What will you do? Will you continue in your sins and hang on to them believing that you will never change and be forever destined to hell or a higher plain as the world and Satan would have you believe? Will you believe the lies and continue in your sins?
Will you ride the fence and pretend that you can live two lives? That is, will you pretend in church or wherever that you are a Christian by day, but by night be deeply involved in some sin? This is not a safe place to be. There is either one or the other. You are either a sinner destined for hell, or a sinner saved by grace free of the bondage of sin and living your life for Christ? The world would love to have you believe you can have the best of both worlds. But this is a blatant lie.
You can continue to ride the fence and wait till the end and see if this is true or if what God tells us in the scripture is true.Either way, the truth will come out ion the end. Is it worth the risk to live and pretend you can continue on in your sins with no fear or risk of consequences?
All your life you have been living with rules.Where do rules come from? Why do we have them?. Logic would tell you that rules are in place to protect you. Some rules will protect you from physical harm. Some will protect you from spiritual harm.
If there are laws, there must be a law giver. If you lived in a house with parents, they had rules. How do you know there were rules? You know because your parents gave you rules to live by while you lived in the same house as they. Likewise, we live in a world where we live by laws. Laws of nature, laws of society. Moral laws.How do you know there is a heavenly law giver? Try if you will to live contrary to the natural laws. Try to jump off a tall building. You know that if you do, you will die. There are natural laws.
You know that there are moral laws without never having ever read the Bible. How so? Because when you sin, you subconscious, the Holy Spirit of the world convicts you of that sin. You feel the guilt. You know that you have dome wrong.
So will you risk continuing on in sin, when you know full well that there is a God whom is our lawgiver? He has set before us the consequences of our sins. Even natives in far away countries living in jungles have laws by which everyone lives by. If you were to talk to them, they would tell you they believe in a god of a sort, by whom they know they have laws to live by. Laws which govern what is right and wrong. No matter where you go it is wrong to steal, wrong to commit adultery, wrong to tell a lie. These laws are universal.
So, if you will, go ahead and touch the chair that tells you not to touch. Go ahead and commit all the sins you desire. Go ahead and act as if you can live two lives, right and wrong with no fear of any consequence. Go ahead and act as if there is no such thing as right and wrong, as if there are no absolute truths. Go for it and see for yourself whether there is a God who hates sin and promises to deal with you if you disobey Him. Go ahead and live two lives, riding on the fence. What the heck. You have nothing to lose. Or do you?
By the way, when the guy was free from the chair, the Christian directed him to turn the sign around that said; "Do not Touch." Guess what was written on the back side of that sign.
"Sin"
Andre
Come Lord, Come! When sin entered the world beginning at the time of Adam, man has become increasingly evil. God destroyed all mankind except a handful, that being Noah and his family. Since then man has filled the earth and once again has become evil. Satan and his hordes are giving it their all in these last days because he to knows scripture and he knows his time is running to an end when he will no longer have sway on mankind. He is doing his best to take as many with him to hell as he can. Every evil thought that man has originates from Satan whom is the father of lies. John 8:44
All we can do as believers is to stand up firm in the truth and not let the evil of the world sway us from righteousness. I know that is extremely difficult for we are all with sin. But believers also have the Holy Spirit living within to whom is our guide and counselor, by whom we follow and obey our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. "Look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." Luke 21:28 (King James Version). Soon we will have no more worry of evil and sin, for soon we will be washed clean and will sin no more, for sin will no longer be in us.
Praise God. Come Lord Come.
Andre
No Room for the Things of the World
If you are filling your mind on things of the Lord, there is no room in your mind for the things of the world, especially sin. The Bible is the Sword of the Spirit given to us from the Father. It is our shield and defender to help us to flee from and to avoid the fiery darts of Satan and his hordes. Read it every day, memorize scripture verse, pray always in all things, spend quality one on one time with Him. If you develop this habit, it will not be long before you are no longer tempted and it will all seem like a bad dream.
Go forth this week with the Spirit of the Lord in you heart and have a good and Godly week.
Andre
Moving Away from God Our circumstances may change but God's never. There was a recent article about and a man a woman driving together. The wife asked why they no longer sit together when they go driving. The husband replied: "It is not I whom moved away, it was you." We tend to move away from God for various reasons. None are valid. So let's work at staying beside Him.
Causes of the problem - A Reply to an Email
I believe this is a good thing to ask for revelations from God as such below [asking God to reveal to oneself some of the causes that contributed to a special problem]. Yes, we will see things we do not want to hear. But in order to be healed, we also need to hear and accept the truth. 1 John 1:9 tells us if we confess our sins, He is just and faithful to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That is the reason for the law. For without the law, we would not know what sin was. And without knowledge of sin, how could God condemn us for not knowing we are sinners. Therefore we need to acknowledge our sins and confess them. Then and only then can He begin to heal us. It would be like going to your doctor with a cold and also a bad burn hidden under your sleeve. If you walk in telling of you cold, he can help you. But if you do not tell about the burn, he cannot help you.
This is the process He has put into place. Call on Him, trust Him to heal you from all unrighteous. Hold nothing back. Yes it is tough. But without calling on Him, healing will never occur. Sometimes like myself it takes a long time to get over my pneumonia. But I do as the doctors tell me trusting that I will be healed. Trust in Him.
Andre
My Yoke is Easy (A Response to an Email)
The passage you are referring to is Matthew 11:28-30 "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (King James Version)
A yoke in the days of Jesus and earlier, as you likely know, is a wooden frame linking two oxen together, held there with a thong around the neck. (Numbers 19:2; Deut. 21:3) This picture is used to figuratively to describe subjugation. (1 Kings 12:4, 9-11; Isa. 9:4.) The removal of the yoke denotes deliverance. (Gen. 27:40; Jer. 2:20; Matt. 11:29,30) Consider that thought a few moments.
Sin holds us bondage. Jesus came to set the captives free.
Listen to the words of Jesus, Luke 4:18-19: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord." (King James Version)
Again. Sin holds us in bondage. We are like the oxen held in the yoke. It is a heavy burden to carry the burden of the yoke. We carry this burden for many years often enough, because we are to stubborn to let Him carry the load. We try oh so hard by ourselves. But we are unable of ourselves to lift that yoke off of our necks.
There is that still voice calling and calling and calling. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Matt. 11:28-30 (King James Version)
He wants to lift that yoke off of your neck. He wants to carry the heavy burden for you. And He will if you but listen to Him, follow His lead, obey His Words. It is not difficult, but we make it difficult upon ourselves when we listen to the other voice. The one whom pricks our minds with lies.
The words and lies of the devil are heavy and carry us down. But, "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous." 1 John 5:3 (King James Version). His "ways are ways of pleasantness", and His "paths are peace". Prov. 3:17 (King James Version)
The Key to having the burden lifted is to listen to His voice, to "Come unto me" (Matt. 11:28 King James Version)
Come to Him and Learn His ways. His ways are easy, they are light. He offers you rest from your weary load. Christ offers to you freely, with no exception, with no hardship, with no conditions, REST AND COMFORT, if we but take and accept His Lordship over our lives. Come Unto Him and take freely. Come as you are, heavy laden, dirty, thirsty. All that is holding you back at this very moment from being delivered once and for all of your heavy burden is you stubbornness to follow the ways of sin. Follow Him and Be SET Free. When their is obedience to Him, the yoke is easy. What makes it hard, is when there is no submission to Him.
To COME to Jesus is to believe by faith what He says Acts 16:31 It is to receive Him John 1:12. It is to eat of the bread that He offers John 6:35. It is to drink the cup that He offers. It is to Look upon Him, and be saved Isa. 45:22. It is to confess that He, Jesus is God 1 John 4:2. It is to Hear Him, who believes His Word and believes in Him who sent Christ who will have everlasting life and not pass into judgement, but from death to life. John 5:24 It is to enter the door and be saved and find the pasture. John 10:9. It is to open the door and hear His voice and dine with Him. Rev. 3:20 It is to touch the hem of His garment and be healed. Matt. 9:20,21. It is to accept His wonderful gift of eternal life John 3:16, Rom 6:23
Where is, or to Whom is the object of this wonderful faith, But None Other Than Jesus Christ. He says COME TO ME. There is none other under heaven or earth by which you may be saved and healed and to have your heavy burden lifted.
In order to have this burden lifted, you must first admit that you are burdened with the weight of sin. Only those whom acknowledge that they are burdened with they weight of sin and lost can be saved and have the weight of sin lifted. Faith in Christ is preceded by repentance toward God.
He offers you a free gift. He offers you REST. This gift is unearned, undeserved. This gift come from realizing and accepting the truth of the gospel message. Rest comes when we realize the debt He paid for our sins. And He does not demand a payment ever again.
Take His Yoke. Enter into submission to Him, to do His will. Turn over control of your life to Him. Rom. 12:1-2 implores us: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." (King James Version)
Learn From Him. Acknowledge His Lordship in every area of you life. Read His Word, study it and Obey it. In this, He trains us to follow after Him, to become more like Him.
Unlike the world today and the Pharisees of His day, their yoke, and the yoke of the world today is heavy, it is burdensome. He is gentle and lowly of heart. When we let Him lead us and humble ourselves before Him, we will ...
Find rest for our souls. Rest is found in obedience to Him, in letting Him take control of our lives, when we serve rather than being served.
When the Pharisees walked the earth, they laid a heavy burden on the people with their man made rules which were longer than the Mississippi River. They themselves would do nothing to lift or carry the burdens of the people. Matt. 11:30 Jesus on the other hand says: "For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (King James Version)
This does not mean that we shall never have trouble or heartache. But rather that when we do, He will be there tio help us carry the load. We are together yoked with the One who created us who gives sufficient grace for every need, for every burden. To serve Him is not Bondage, but is perfect Freedom.
J.H. Jowett said: "The fatal mistake for the believer is to seek to bear lifes load in a single collar. God never intended a man to carry his burden alone. Christ therefore deals only in yokes! A yoke is a neck harness for two, and the Lord Himself pleads to be the One of the two. He wants to share the labor of any galling task. The secret of peace and victory in the Christian life is found in putting off the taxing collar of "Self" and accepting the Masters relaxing "yoke"."
Replace Sin with Something New! If one amputates a leg, it can longer be used, though one often thinks it is still there. If you amputate things that can tempt you to sin, you can no longer be tempted to sin in those areas. Though it may cross your mind from time to time, you will no longer have he resources to sin. A thing that is no longer used soon becomes a thing of the past, becoming a past and soon forgotten. It is said, (I learned this when I was trained to drive school bus years ago) that it takes 21 days to develop a new habit. So, therefore, if one tosses away a way of sin, what you no longer do, becomes something of he past and must be replaced with a new thing. If you use that time you used to use in sin, for God's glory, think how much you can accomplish for Him! Soon you will find it a joy and a good habit to be working for Him than for the devil, which is what you do when you are involved in sin.
Sin and the Temptation to Sin Another thought that crossed my mind regarding sin and the temptation to sin. Proverbs 23:7 a says: "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he" (King James Version)
Most guys and gals for that matter, seek to do whatever your heart desires, you will go after it and get it. It is a proven fact, that if you so desire so much in your heart to achieve something, you will achieve it. Likewise, if you so desire in your heart to go after unlawful flesh, you will be just that, you will chase after that unlawful flesh, because it has become imbedded in your heart, your flesh.
So the bottom line is, if you sincerely desire to change, to quit seeking after unlawful flesh, take a change in your thoughts, what you desire. If you decide in your mind that you do not like spinach, guess what? You won't like spinach. Likewise, if you decide in you mind that you no longer desire unlawful flesh, guess what? You will no longer like and no longer seek after it.
Colossians 3:1-8a,9-10,17: "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these....., seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him... And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him." (King James Version)
Can you in your right mind be abiding in sin and honestly say that you are doing it in the name of the Lord?
Frontlets Many of the Jews in the time of Christ would wear a frontlet in front of their eyes. These frontlet's had scripture on them, so that the carrier was constantly being reminded of whatever was written in front of him.
This verse is one we should carry in front of us at all times in our minds. Perhaps then we we sin so much less. Imagine if you will, God walking before you at all times. Would you be sinning, if you saw Him in front of you. Well the fact is, even though we may not see Him with our physical eyes, He is always present and knows everything we say and do.
Knowing that, will you still continue in your sins?
Cookies If we used our heads better we would less have so much troubles to walk away from sin. We treat sin like a cookie in the cookie jar. We put our hand into the cookie jar knowing full well we should not. But the hand gets stuck in there and we refuse to let go of the cookie so that we can pull our hand out. Better to release the cookie and be free. Better to release the follies of life and be free in Him.
Andre
An Exercise An exercise I try to do now and again. It is hurtful but at the same time beneficial.
What I do, is I pray and ask God to show me if there be any sins in me. No doubt there are always some. But some are in need of immediate acknowledgement. For example, there maybe someone I need to forgive. Others may not be so immediate, but never-the-less need working on.
It is in these times that we acknowledge and agree with Him these sins, and ask for help and strength to overcome and be rid of these certain sins.
For sure it hurts, but to ignore these truths is more painful than the cure, which is acknowledging the sins and asking and praying to be forgiven and freed of these sins through the Holy Spirit.
Have a good and Godly week.
André
The Skin of a Snake Recently while working in my garden I came across what I thought at first was the skin of a snake. Thinking upon how snakes shed their skin reminded me of how we as sinners are to “put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts” Eph. 4:22 (King James Version) and are to ”be renewed in the spirit of your mind . And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.“ Eph. 4:23,24 (King James Version)
You see, a snake in essence sheds off its old life, its old skin, and puts on a new life, a new skin. What was our old life like, our old man, our old skin. The following verses again from Ephesians tell us what we were like.
Ephesians 4:25-31 King James Version (KJV) 25Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. 26Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: 27Neither give place to the devil. 28Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. 29Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. 30And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 31Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
Ephesians 2:3 King James Version (KJV)
3Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
1 Peter 4:3 King James Version (KJV)
3For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:
Galatians 5:21 King James Version (KJV)
21Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
These are but a few examples of how we used to be, and how some of us still behave.
To the contrary as I have already said we are to shed off the old ways of life and put on the new skin, the new life How?
Ephesians 4:23-24 King James Version (KJV)
23And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
We can do this because:
Romans 6:4 King James Version (KJV)
4Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Just as the snake in one sense died, it now lives, thus we to, now are dead to sins past and now are alive because:
Romans 6:5-14 King James Version (KJV)
5For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 6Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7For he that is dead is freed from sin. 8Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 11Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 12Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
Do you see that? You who were once alive unto sins, to obey its lust are no longer under the power of sin once you become a child of God.
Jesus, who now lives in you, has the power to conquer sin in you. You on your own cannot overcome sin in yourself.
So now, Romans 6:11 King James Version (KJV)
11Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
You no longer need to let sin rule over you, because you now have Jesus in you, living in you who has the power to live the life in you that He wants you to live.
The lusts of the flesh, no longer need be in control of your body. Let Christ who is in you LIVE so that you are no longer under the control of sin. Do not try to do on your own, you cannot. Hand over your life to be controlled by Him.
Romans 6:16-23 King James Version (KJV)
16Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? 17But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. 18Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. 19I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. 20For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. 21What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. 22But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. 23For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So now if you obey no longer the fruit and lust of the sins the promises of God are:
Galatians 5:22-25 King James Version (KJV)
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 24And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 25If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
So This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
Galatians 5:17-18 King James Version (KJV)
17For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. 18But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
Now recall at the beginning, I said: I thought at first was the skin of a snake. I realized after having a closer look that this snake had not shed its skin, but was a dead snake. And that will be the end result of you who continue to lust after the things of the flesh and do not seek after God to do His will.
Therefore do not seek to fulfil the lusts of the flesh, but rather seek to fulfill the lust of the Spirit of God.
Romans 6:12-13 King James Version (KJV)
12Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
Because Romans 6:23 King James Version (KJV)
23For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So, make a stand right this very moment, choose this day as Joshua did when he said:
Joshua 24:15 King James Version (KJV)
15And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
Serve ye therefore, whether you will serve the lusts of the flesh or the Lord!
André
My Prayers for You (An Email to A Christian Online-Support Group)
If I were to have but only one breath left in my life knowingly, I believe I would not ask and pray to God for another for myself. But I would pray and ask that He would allow me but a few more breaths to reach out and plead for you my brothers to look to Him with all of your heart, with all of your soul, seeking, searching for Him, to fill you full of the Holy Spirit. That in doing so, you would find the maker of your life, and turn to Him, fully, seeking and desiring the milk of Life, His son Jesus Christ. I would plead that He would give you but a few more breaths so that in that short time, you might repent of your sinful ways, as I have pleaded and prayed for myself many a time. I have prayed many a time to take the place of some of you, and be condemned to hell rather than seeing you to fall into the pits. I am not worthy of such a task, but if God would but allow it , I would for you. Such is my love for the lost. I am but a servant of His, yet, weak and lowly, a sinner such as you. I do not seek gratitude for my love for others. But what I seek, is what God Himself seeks in others., He wants you to humble yourself and admit, that you are a sinner as I am, in need of a Savior. He want you to surrender all to Him, all your love, all your sins, all your weaknesses, all your cares, all your worries. None of us can carry these burdens alone. We need Him.
If I could, I believe I would hang on the cross for you. And yet I know, I cannot. For only a righteous Lamb as Jesus can accomplish and do that feat. But if I could I would try for you.
I cry many a tear for you all believe or not. I anguish that some are only here for a time and will fall away, as we have seen many a time. And yet we have some, who come as lowly children, who come and believe, and grasp the promises of God, and are transformed into His image. For some it is a quick transformation, for others, it is much slower, not because of their own lack of will, but because of the will of God for His own reason for which we may never understand on this side of eternity. Never-the- less, it is not for us to question why, but to accept and do our best to live for Him.
Until He takes us home to be with Him, I will continue to pray for you all , that he will keep you and hold you and mold you to be the man you were made to be. And until He comes I will plead for you all, and if I can, I will step in to hell for you, if it would be His will.
