As much as I say i love God i still sin. Is it because of my body or is it because i am inherently wicked. I just dont understand why. Jesus said he would free us from out sin nature well i am still here just the same even after being renewed. Im tired and I really want to be sin free completely why doesn't God answer my prayers?
I love God, too, I sin every day. We are, I'm afraid, Cement, human beings and yes, we are inherently wicked. From the very beginning this was made clear:
Genesis 6:5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
All men, from Adam until the birth of Christ, were sinners. None were perfect and Satan knew this, which is why he continuously went before God to accuse every man of his uncleanliness, thus proving to God that none were worthy of His forgiveness.
Christ was a man (that is, He lived and was tempted as man). Although He is God, He was also flesh, but also something more than any before Him, He was blameless in all He did. Christ was tempted as we are, but far more than any other man could take. Being so completely focused on His Father, so completely focused on obeying Him and pleasing Him, meant that Jesus could resist all temptation.
When Christ died on the cross, Satan could no longer go to God and accuse man of sin. Why? Because Jesus had died taking all our sin unto Himself; every sin man has done and will ever do was forgiven that day when Jesus died for us. Praise Him indeed!
The grace of God is this: He knew we could never become Christ-like, we are flesh, we are evil, we are living on a planet controlled by the enemy, we will never attain to the purity that God requires from us to enter His heaven. Therefore, He blessed us with His grace, the offer of eternal life given simply by accepting Jesus, who He is and what He did for us.
He
has freed us from our sinful nature. Think about it, God knows we cannot ever reach a state of purity (our flesh will always be sinful and filthy in His eyes) so what does He do? Does He strip the flesh from our spirit? Does He remove all temptation, leaving us without free will, basically turning us into mindless robots? No, He offers us His son as a sacrifice, hoping that all men will accept His grace and spend eternity with Him in heaven. What an awesome, beautiful, loving Father we have.
We
are free from our sin. That doesn't mean we won't sin, it just means that the accuser (Satan) can no longer, justifiably accuse us before God. If Satan were still allowed to address God on this matter, he would have no grounds on which to state his case. Jesus has freed us from this bondage by taking our sins, dying on the cross with them, offering them up to Satan and then finishing the job by taking all authority away from the enemy by way of love and resurrection.
John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
We'll only be completely free of sin when we enter heaven. But all the time you acknowledge your sin on this world and truly repent, you have nothing to worry about. Jesus Christ died for your sins, He has already paid your debt. Accept and believe in Him and all is good.
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Spend some time over the next few days thinking about who you're pleasing. Do your thoughts and actions please the Father or the enemy?
Do we please God or the enemy when we become angered over some soppy sod driving way too close behind us? Do we please God or the enemy when we have covetous thoughts over our neighbours possessions? Do we please God or the enemy when we keep too much change given to us by a shopkeeper?
Small things, but very important things. All sins, all displeasing to God but pleasing to the enemy. Spend time before you do and think. "Am I pleasing or displeasing Him?". Answered prayer and blessing comes from being obedient to Him.
Who here would be quick to bless their child if that child was disobedient? If your child was disrespectful, mean, quick to anger, slow to consider, would you be quick to reward? No, but you would still be there for your child, you would still love them. You would hope that your child would come to you, acknowledge their wrongs and ask for help. You would always forgive your child, but you would not bless your child until they were on the correct path and in accordance with you.
We also need to remember that God answers prayers to suit His will, not ours. What you may consider unanswered prayer is actually prayer answered within His plan for you. God will often answer prayer via life lessons and things you may initially consider negative. A simple example, you ask God to help you with relationships.
- On your way to work you get run over by car
- In hospital you meet lady serving food
- You learn of her son being bullied at school and nobody befriending him
- A year later you see lady and son at cinema
- Son still has no friends but you learn he enjoys playing snooker, as do you
- You invite lady and son to night out at games club
- Lady appreciates, accepts, night enjoyed
- Lady invites you to dinner ...
Ha, OK, silly example, but you hopefully get my point. What may be considered as unanswered prayer was actually an intricate plan laid out by God. A plan possibly drawn out over many years. We should never expect instant answers, nothing is learned by this. We learn through life how to deal with those around us over time, not immediately.
Through life lessons, God offers us many, many opportunities to do right or wrong. What you decide to do at each fork in the road dictates your final destination.
