- Jun 26, 2015
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Many believers who truly love the Lord have found themselves trapped in a Romans 7 existence. They truly want to do good. They hate the sins that drag them down, yet as hard as they may try, failure is still their inevitable result.
They read the words Paul writes in Romans 8 where he tells us there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in a Christ Jesus, but sadly, that is all they are..... words. In my own case, for almost 38 years, I lived in abject failure, bound by an addiction to inappropriate contentography and masturbation. This was no ‘every once in a while’ slip. It was a daily battle to try to resist, but the harder I resisted, the more it tightened around my brain. I was the poster boy for Romans 7, a man most miserable.
Sound familiar? Are you battling a sin that you hate, but with no success, and with each failure, the hope that you will never get free fades a little more. If that is you, no matter the sin, you can identify with me in that there is PLENTY of condemnation. Oh, maybe not from God, but from my own heart? I breathed it like air. Drank it like water. And condemnation will suck the life right out of your walk with God. No joy, except perhaps in an occasional gulp of oxygen in an extraordinary worship service. It truly does make you view yourself as a ‘wretched man’ just as Paul did.
So many have tread this road before, but have been detoured by the enemy in order to smile and get some relief. What is the detour? Simply lowering the standard that the Lord gives us... victory over the world, the flesh and the devil.
The vast majority of modern preachers have led this detour, telling us that no one is perfect, we are only human, and despite the fact we may be committing vile sins, there is STILL no condemnation, so why sweat it? Chill. Relax. Don’t be sin conscious. And for millions it has worked.
You see, the real danger of sin continuing in our lives is that it hardens our hearts to the Lord. Oh, we may still go to church, read our Bibles, tithe, and do some volunteering. But you see, all those are not Christianity. They are simply fruits of walking in Christ.
The great danger is that once we lower the standard of ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God’, we let our consciences become hardened, our joyful contact and fellowship with Christ Himself is shut down, ever so slowly, until we are just going through the motions. If God took a trip and was unable to meet with us, we would never know it. Religious activity has replaced relationship. The living Word has been replaced by dead letter.
We are told that if we are sons and daughters of God, we WILL occasionally be chastened for wrong actions. And if we are not, we are bastards.... illegitimate children. Ouch. God never condemns us, but He most certainly convicts us. Our problem is that we do not know what to do with the conviction. We sin, we get convicted about the wrongness of our action, whatever it may be, we confess it, we repent and ........ and what? We vow to do better next time, right? And we all know what the result is, don’t we? It happens again... and again.
And if we do this enough, and our failures begin to clog our arteries of trust in God, condemnation replaces conviction. That voice comes from Satan, our enemy, but listen. This is critical. When he accuses, he does not whisper in our ear “You are a terrible Christian.” Oh, no, he has a much more effective weapon up His sleeve. He whispers ‘I am a terrible Christian’.... and he does it in OUR voice. Whoa.
Listen, dear friends. If you find your walk strangely following the above path, you are not alone. If you love the Lord, get this deep down in your heart. Our God NEVER condemns us. Ever. BUT, and this is huge that we get this. He does convict. He does chasten. He does so because sin hardens our hearts, to where we no longer truly believe Him. Instead we believe IN Him, and the difference is monumental.
Look. Think for a minute. If it is as we have been told from our pulpits, that sin truly cannot be overcome, then why would God convict us in the first place. We would only be doing what is natural, right? There is but one reason He would convict us. Because there is a way to get victory over it!
If you have fallen into the trap of religion, or if you have resisted the temptation to lower the standard but it has made you flat out miserable and joyless, either way I want you to know something. God has a way out. He longs to show us the HOW of living an obedient, holy life, but first, we must admit to Him that despite our best efforts, we are failing. And we need help, big time.
The hardest part of the message of victory God has given me to share with any who will put up with my incessant ramblings is to finally stop and say ‘Yes, that’s me, Lord”. I need to be set free from this prison called self, and I cannot, or will not do it without a miracle from You.”
Without this step, there is no point reading further, for brokenness and honesty must reign supreme in any dealing we have with our Father. Ahhh, but WITH this step, if you are sincere, may I tell you to buckle your seatbelts, because God is about to do something for you, to you, IN you that will boggle your mind.
In these last days, God is going to awaken every true child of God. no matter how far they have strayed, no matter how deep and disgusting their sin has become, no matter how cold their heart has grown toward God. It matters not. We have a wedding forthcoming and our God is going to make darned sure we are perfectly prepared to meet Him..... as overcomers.
Are you ready to experience the walk with the Lord He died to give you. Where condemnation is literally a thing of the past? Is it truly possible? It is not only possible. It is assured! Glory to God!!
More to come....
Blessings,
Gids
They read the words Paul writes in Romans 8 where he tells us there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in a Christ Jesus, but sadly, that is all they are..... words. In my own case, for almost 38 years, I lived in abject failure, bound by an addiction to inappropriate contentography and masturbation. This was no ‘every once in a while’ slip. It was a daily battle to try to resist, but the harder I resisted, the more it tightened around my brain. I was the poster boy for Romans 7, a man most miserable.
Sound familiar? Are you battling a sin that you hate, but with no success, and with each failure, the hope that you will never get free fades a little more. If that is you, no matter the sin, you can identify with me in that there is PLENTY of condemnation. Oh, maybe not from God, but from my own heart? I breathed it like air. Drank it like water. And condemnation will suck the life right out of your walk with God. No joy, except perhaps in an occasional gulp of oxygen in an extraordinary worship service. It truly does make you view yourself as a ‘wretched man’ just as Paul did.
So many have tread this road before, but have been detoured by the enemy in order to smile and get some relief. What is the detour? Simply lowering the standard that the Lord gives us... victory over the world, the flesh and the devil.
The vast majority of modern preachers have led this detour, telling us that no one is perfect, we are only human, and despite the fact we may be committing vile sins, there is STILL no condemnation, so why sweat it? Chill. Relax. Don’t be sin conscious. And for millions it has worked.
You see, the real danger of sin continuing in our lives is that it hardens our hearts to the Lord. Oh, we may still go to church, read our Bibles, tithe, and do some volunteering. But you see, all those are not Christianity. They are simply fruits of walking in Christ.
The great danger is that once we lower the standard of ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God’, we let our consciences become hardened, our joyful contact and fellowship with Christ Himself is shut down, ever so slowly, until we are just going through the motions. If God took a trip and was unable to meet with us, we would never know it. Religious activity has replaced relationship. The living Word has been replaced by dead letter.
We are told that if we are sons and daughters of God, we WILL occasionally be chastened for wrong actions. And if we are not, we are bastards.... illegitimate children. Ouch. God never condemns us, but He most certainly convicts us. Our problem is that we do not know what to do with the conviction. We sin, we get convicted about the wrongness of our action, whatever it may be, we confess it, we repent and ........ and what? We vow to do better next time, right? And we all know what the result is, don’t we? It happens again... and again.
And if we do this enough, and our failures begin to clog our arteries of trust in God, condemnation replaces conviction. That voice comes from Satan, our enemy, but listen. This is critical. When he accuses, he does not whisper in our ear “You are a terrible Christian.” Oh, no, he has a much more effective weapon up His sleeve. He whispers ‘I am a terrible Christian’.... and he does it in OUR voice. Whoa.
Listen, dear friends. If you find your walk strangely following the above path, you are not alone. If you love the Lord, get this deep down in your heart. Our God NEVER condemns us. Ever. BUT, and this is huge that we get this. He does convict. He does chasten. He does so because sin hardens our hearts, to where we no longer truly believe Him. Instead we believe IN Him, and the difference is monumental.
Look. Think for a minute. If it is as we have been told from our pulpits, that sin truly cannot be overcome, then why would God convict us in the first place. We would only be doing what is natural, right? There is but one reason He would convict us. Because there is a way to get victory over it!
If you have fallen into the trap of religion, or if you have resisted the temptation to lower the standard but it has made you flat out miserable and joyless, either way I want you to know something. God has a way out. He longs to show us the HOW of living an obedient, holy life, but first, we must admit to Him that despite our best efforts, we are failing. And we need help, big time.
The hardest part of the message of victory God has given me to share with any who will put up with my incessant ramblings is to finally stop and say ‘Yes, that’s me, Lord”. I need to be set free from this prison called self, and I cannot, or will not do it without a miracle from You.”
Without this step, there is no point reading further, for brokenness and honesty must reign supreme in any dealing we have with our Father. Ahhh, but WITH this step, if you are sincere, may I tell you to buckle your seatbelts, because God is about to do something for you, to you, IN you that will boggle your mind.
In these last days, God is going to awaken every true child of God. no matter how far they have strayed, no matter how deep and disgusting their sin has become, no matter how cold their heart has grown toward God. It matters not. We have a wedding forthcoming and our God is going to make darned sure we are perfectly prepared to meet Him..... as overcomers.
Are you ready to experience the walk with the Lord He died to give you. Where condemnation is literally a thing of the past? Is it truly possible? It is not only possible. It is assured! Glory to God!!
More to come....
Blessings,
Gids
