yeah, i agree totally.
one thing i think most people dont realise about sin, is really where its from, a man showed this to me the other day and its really good.
if you talk to the average christian about sin, theyll be like, YEAH THE DEVIL WAS JUST ATTACKING ME YESTERDAY! or when they feel tempted THEY START REBUKING DEMONS, and really attacking something that may not even be there. as if all temptation is from a devil whispering in your ear. but it isnt.
many times, when we are tempted, its not becuase some devil is talking to you, or attacking you. but becuase you have an unclean desire, and you desire that thing thats tempting you. so, many times you yourself are the root of that temptation, there is still something in you somewhere that wants to do that thing, and thats why you are tempted by it.
like, say your own a fast. and you see a big ol choc.cake! your gonna be like MAN I WANT THAT CAKE! but is that the devil in your ear? no, its just that you want it.
so, in battleing sin, there must a cleansing of the old man, a burning away of yourself, you must be changed. its not so much beating the demons that attack you, and sometimes they do, but mostly it is you changing THE WAY YOU ARE INTO A M AN THAT DOESNT DESIRE THOSE THINGS ANYMORE.
so, next time you feel tempted, think about it, is it a demon? or is it simply your unclean desire? its probly not a demon.
and ask god to change you, and do the neccesary things to change yourself. like,
1. renew your mind by the word.
read the bible so much that you start to automaticly live it.
to where in every situation your first reaction is what the word says. change the way you think, by reading the word, day and night. god told joshua to meditate on it, day and night. that shows just how much we need to be reading it. josh 1.8
no matter what, always have a teaching tape playing, be reading the word, someway somehow feed yourself on the word at all times, youll become to so full, that it will just start spilling over and out of you. youll no longer think the way you thought.
i use to be like WHOA MOMMA THAT WOMANS GOT SOME BIG ******!
but now im like
DANG IT! I DONT WANNA SEE THOSE! my nature is changing. where i use to instantly reach out to sin. now i am starting to instantly recoil and fight it.
2. stay in prayer.
stay in strong relationship with god, those who really love god, obey god. and love comes through intamicy and that comes through relationship. you wont really love god like you should if you dont have a continual prayer life. your love will grow cold and youll start to move farther away. continual prayer keeps a strong relationship, it also brings a strong level of conviction. sins will start to look so filthy and disgusting! when you are close to god, youll hunger to obey him, and youll hate to disobey him.
3. fast.
it casts off your flesh. as you willfully deny yourself of its desire, you train yourself to overcome the flesh, and your flesh dies.
your mortifying your flesh like paul said to do.
much of the reason that people dont really know god like they should even when they want to, is becuase they are so full of the flesh, that god cannot come very close to them in his holiness.
there must be a cleansing of your uncleanliness. a divine washing of your soul. as you allow the holyspirit to take away what is your and naturally unclean, and replace it with divine substance! but that costs everything.
this was said of a man named smith wigglesworth.
when smith prayed, you couldnt stay in the same room with him for more than 30 min. becuase so much of the power and glory of god would come down that anyone else would run for his life!
see, those other men were so unclean (or average) that god wouldnt come like this for them, but when smith prayed god would come becuase he was purified.
and these other men where cast into a dangerous place that god really hadnt allowed them to go to ,becuase they were unclean.
smith said he rarely prayed more than 30 min. but he never went 30 mins without praying.
he was one time walking to a revival with his friends, it was a long walk. and he just started going crasy! he was like, WE HAVE TO STOP AND PRAY! THE FLESH IS OVERCOMING US!
he hated to go very long without reading his bible, or praying, thats how close he was to god.
hed carry a bible around, and hed be reading it everywhere at all times.
hed have conversations with people, and hed openly repent to god, if they had been talking about other things besides god for very long.
and this mans shadow healed the sick, he raised his wife from the dead and she asked him to let her go back! he raised 26 people from the dead. hed get into a box car and people would cry out, saying WHAT ARE YOU!? WHO ARE YOU!? theyd be convicted of their uncleanliness by being near him.
charles finney did the same things.
its not odd, its the power of martyrdom! to where god removes what is yours, and replaces it with what is his.