You know the verse in Joshua 24:15 that say’s, “But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve….for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” May I ask that question of you? Have you yet chosen whom you will serve or the path that you will take to do your spiritual walking on? If you have not planned that yet, may I suggest one?
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John 2:6 says this about the Christian’s walk, “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” Walking in Christ is not always easy. But it is possible! However, when a Christian sins, they break fellowship with God until that wrong is made right through confession and repentance. When we sin, it's like disconnecting ourselves from the power source that allows our light to shine and enables us to live like we ought to!
The saddest thing that I have ever seen in my life is a person who claims that they are a Christian, yet has no evidence in their life that reflects that claim. God's word tells us that it will be by their fruit, that they shall be known as well as their love for one another.
Before a person becomes a Christian, they have one nature and that is, their flesh. Romans 7:8 tells us that in the flesh dwells no good thing. The scripture teaches us that after we are saved God gives us His, Holy Spirit that not only seals us in our salvation but provides us with a new nature that guides and empowers us to live accordingly!
The Bible tells us that after salvation we have two natures that war with each other inside us. Our fleshly nature and our new spiritual nature. It is that war that becomes the Christian’s toughest battle. Because as our new nature wants nothing but to please God; the old nature which is the flesh, wants nothing else but to do what pleases the flesh. For this reason the Christian struggles within themselves to always do the right thing, according to Galatians 5:1. However, the fact that you are struggling not to sin is one indication that you have the Holy Spirit in you and that you are truly born again.
Suppose you are in a boat sailing along when you notice two women in the water. One of which is struggling to stay a float while the other is laying face down in the water, her body limp and lifeless. It’s obvious that these two women are in trouble. You take a life preserver, tie it to a rope, and throw it to them. It lands just a few feet short. You start yelling and yelling for them to grab the life preserver so that you can pull them in. "Come on," you yell, "Grab it!" One of the women, exhausted from the struggle of trying to stay afloat, reaches out her arm for the life preserver but falls short. "Grab it!" you yell again. She reaches again and her arm plops down in the water from fatigue. The waves hitting her face as she desperately tries again for the life preserver. The other woman is simply floating face down in the water. She isn't struggling at all. But, the other one is struggling for that life preserver. She is fighting against the ocean, the wind and the waves, all which are greater than she is and is beating her up and wearing her down.
Now, which one of the two women in the water is alive? If you say, The one reaching for the life preserver, then of course your are right! She is struggling for life. She wants that life preserver more than anything. The other women dead! Dead people don't struggle for life and spiritually dead people do not struggle against their sin. Only those who are dead and do not struggle have no life in them at all.
I John 2 reminds us that we are not to sin. The goal of every Christian that bears the name of Christ is; to not sin. The fact that you are struggling against your sin is a very good indicator that you are very much alive in Christ. If you were not struggling at all to overcome sin in your life, then I would say you might need to rethink your walk in Christ. 1 John 2 also tells us that, we know that we have come to know Him if we obey His commands, verse 4 says that the man who says I know Him but does not do what he commands is a liar and the Truth is not in Him. It goes on further to say that whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did. You see, The world and it’s desires will pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever in verse 17.
Romans 6 tells us very clearly how we should walk”what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? “Here is the key now get hold of it”…..”For sin shall not have dominion over you”…that’s it in a nut shell! Before a person gets born again, sin has dominion over them….they can not help but to sin….but children of God are free from that dominion, to decide for themselves if they are going to sin or not!
Let me tell you what sin does to you as a child of God if that sin is not confessed and every effort is made to turn away from it. James 1:14-15 says…”But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death. Yes….even death! God loves His Children but He demands that we obey Him and He has every right to do that! Your sin will not change your position as God’s child, but it will hurt your relationship with Him if you are not walking in a spirit of repentance. And some Christian have made an early flight home because of their lifestyles according to the book of Revelation….The Christian life is really a walking thing…..it’s about walking in a spirit of repentance and that simply means that you’re struggling and fighting with every ounce in you to do the right thing, hating the flesh in you while longing to please the new nature that is pulling you to do the right thing.
There is an old story about an Indian who got saved. He told his missionary friend that there was a war going on inside of him. The black (or bad) dog was fighting the white (or good) dog, he said. When the missionary ask him which dog was winning, the old Indian man told him “whichever one I feed the most.” So it is with every Christian as well. We will have these battles as long as we live. But we can learn to control that flesh in us and allow our spiritual nature to thrive if we feed on God’s Word and neglect to feed the flesh.
Sin if not dealt with correctly will control your life, wreck your home, sear your conscience, destroy your testimony, hinder your witness for Christ, zap your spiritual power, choke your fruitfulness that you are meant to bear, steal your joy, prevent and hinder your prayers, damage your health and as I said earlier, can shorten your life. The Scripture tells us that whom the Lord loves He chasten....Hebrew 12:5-7. When a Christian sins, they break fellowship and loose spiritual power in their lives to walk according to their calling. It is only through repentance, that God forgives and restores us to walk in the light and power that we are called to walk in.
Remember, sin no longer has dominion over you....if you sin, it will be your choice. Place your spirit on a constant diet of the Word of God and you will starve or put to death the flesh that lingers in you to draw you away from what is best for you.
Romans 8 tells us that there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. The way to victory is not by your own power, but by His power released in you as you walk in obedience to him.
I love you and am praying victory for you today!
Bren
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