Tag Archives: besetting sin

Faith From Death Alone

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A pathetically struggling Christian is hardly any Christian at all.  While he may still be a Christian, by a margin only God himself can know, his testimony is exceedingly small, if alive at all.

What can he say if he decides to testify?  Will he say, “Jesus saves”, while he dabbles deeply in sin?  What proof does he have that his words are true?  And though a man may believe his words, in three days time no proof will appear.

The hearer may prosper in time, but the testimony of the weakened one will prove to be a block and a wall; a hindrance rather than a help.

I do not say this to shame my weaker brother.  Rather I say this to spur him on.  And I do not say these things without knowledge.  For I lived that fruitless and pathetic life for 20 years or more.

Do you really want to conquer sin?  Do you really want to become profitable for the Holy Lord of life?  Are you willing to confess that being a victim is a very comfortable way to live?  Despite your tears, which only oil your next slide to hell.

The victim rises up toward righteousness then falls back quickly for, “It is too hard.”  So he squanders hours and days filling himself with pleasure.  “I will repent soon and the Lord will take me back.”

Such behavior only produces a kind of faith that raises this one from the dead, over and over and over.  Why do you spend your faith on such a trivial life?  When, if such a faith were applied toward righteousness and obedience, it would conquer the very sin you love so much.

This is what I have found.  This key unlocks the chains of death and folly.  Using my faith to bring Him glory instead of pleasure for me.

There is no excuse for the man who lives swinging precariously between life and death.  For what we practice so we are.  He who practices failure is a failure!  While he who practices righteousness, even to the death, is righteous.

“Salvation belongs to our God and to the lamb!”  Have you read the lyrics to the new song in Revelation?   And have you heard that there is no one righteous but God alone?  Have you read and understood that the Lord Jesus came as the willing proof of God’s desire to save his creation?

Did he come to save us that we may squander our life in pathetic dangling between heaven and hell?  Did he not warn us that those who gamble their eternity in unrighteous, ungodly, unholy, wicked and perverse behavior, will certainly not enter the kingdom of God?

All the while you suffer and struggle, your heavenly Father desires to give you righteousness.  But by the confession of your habits you say he is powerless to save you.  Thus your testimony is worthless.  Your prayers are ineffective and infrequent.  Your faith waxes dead more than alive.  And you have gained no ground worthy of mention.

When you could have so very much, if you simply asked, with earnest and truth filled heart, your hands are thoroughly empty of gifts for the crowned King of glory.

You do not pray for release, you simply pray for a calm in the enticements.  You pray for forgiveness while you secretly plot for your next adventure to wickedness. 

Just how long do you expect the Holy Lord of life to display his patience kindness to you?  Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, your neat little trick of rising from the dead will no longer have any effect.

Pray for wisdom and do not cease.  Pray for understanding and cease your desire to lie to God.  Ask for desire toward righteousness.  Beg him that you may learn to abhor your sins.

Turn from your endless wandering.  Let him open your eyes to see the hideous nature of what you have loved to embrace.

I testify to you that there is such a thing as overcoming sin.  You may say you know that but where is your proof?

Those who humble themselves before God seeking what is absolute and true, and turn from their wicked ways, these find favor with God and receive His righteousness upon them even now! 

To say otherwise makes God out to be a liar.  And it pronounces the victory of Christ as if it is of no effect at all!

Answer yourself for yourself:  who has been the liar and of no effect at all?

Whack a mole!

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A dear brother from soulsupply.com, has brought to the surface a very useful topic that is often overlooked.  He rightly points out that a Christian may be diligent in all things of Christ yet fall short because of pride.

Though he may not lose a place in eternity for his shortcomings, he will likely lose some measure of reward. Not desiring that any of my brothers should lose. And since it is our duty to sharpen one another, for the sake of our service to our Lord Jesus. I thought it might be useful to post a little more information in regard to what brother Taylor has exposed.

I will start by confessing that there are two games I really don’t mind losing.  One is called “Whack a Mole”.  It is impossible for a man to win at that game.  But there’s a good deal of joy to be had in losing.

If you’ve never played the game, you stand in front of a bench with holes in it. In your hand is a soft mallet. Little mole heads pop up one at a time in one or another hole. It would be amusing enough just to watch it played.

One by one little mole heads pop up.  And it is your delightful duty to smash them back down with the hammer.  As you get better it gets faster.  At some point you get the joy of hearing the mole say, “Now I’m really angry!”

I don’t get much fun at wack’n the mole heads.  If that were all there is to the game I wouldn’t play it.  That’s too much work for too little gain.  But to hear the defenseless little mole get angry, is a belly full of laughs. The imagination sets fire to wonder what he will do while he’s angry.

The other game I enjoy losing is the fight with besetting sin.  I know that sounds really odd for a Christian to say. But we must remember that to lose in this world is to gain Christ. So I would rather lose then lose.

I had a besetting sin that would not leave me alone. Just like the little mole, I would no sooner pop my head up and the hammer would come and smash me back down. Yes, there was even a place where I am got really angry.

I tried everything. I tried prayer. I tried filling my days with Scripture. I confessed until I was hoarse. I tried restraint. I tried counseling from a respected fellow Christian. I tried everything I could possibly think of, but to no avail.

The harder I tried the quicker the sin would knock me down. Having no recourse, I struggled as far as I could then relied purely on Grace. It was not the solution I was trying to find. But I had exhausted all other possibilities.

Realizing utter failure, brings an ocean of tears and shame. Then, just when I was contemplating giving up entirely, the Lord came near me. I thought sure I would die the eternal death.

It was about the time for me to pop my head up again. I had walked some distance successfully. He gently put his hand on my shoulder and said, “It’s my turn. Just step back and watch.”

I heard the player say, Now I’m really angry!” the Lord raised his beautiful head up for me. I heard the familiar whistle of the Hammer head as it closed in on its target. But then I heard two sounds I have never heard before.

There was a mighty noise as hardened steel met the immovable. Then the smaller sounds of tingling metal pieces as they scattered on the floor. The player had met his match.

The Lord turned to me, completely unscathed by the impact. “You’ll be fine now son.” I closed my eyes while he kissed my forehead. When I open them again he was gone.

I cautiously poked my head up to see what had happened. I was startled at first to see the player standing with an angry face. But then I took note that he was restrained at arms length. The steel of his hammer covered the floor. I heard him threaten. With spit coming from his mouth he cursed at me. But his restraint would no longer let him attack.

I was free! No more fear. No more shame. No more tears associated with failure! In the place of groveling came a worship of praise and thanks.

I present this story for the sake of my brothers and sisters who suffer so intensely. I encourage you to suffer with diligence! Add to your attempts, standing on your head for three weeks, eat a big whopper from the inside out, count backwards from 10 million, or hold your breath for one hour. Whatever you do keep striving till you are sure you have exhausted all possibilities. The Lord will appear before you are allowed to give up all hope! He will not let you die.

I will add the following to uphold my brother’s message. In his message he warns against pride. Failure to heed his timely and well worded message has consequences.

When the Lord appears to take your place against a hidden or besetting sin, you may well suffer loss. Though at that point you likely won’t care.

If a sheep cannot behave itself in open pasture, surely the Lord will move it to a confined space. His love for his dear one will not change. But the place in which the dear one serves, will. You will find your besetting sin restrained. But you may also find restraints placed upon you.

Consider this as you struggle. Perhaps the love of freedom will give you strength. Or perhaps the thought of losing reward will stir you to more action. Regardless, Christ Jesus is Lord and Master! And he is fully willing and able to save.

I have written this story in first person. I am not ashamed that I have been released. And it gives me great pleasure to glorify our Lord. He will always be our head.

May God bless this post to those who need it most.

You will find the fullness of our brother’s text at this link, http://www.soulsupply.com/blog/n/faith-falling-140318?t=3382

By His Grace

Conquering Sin.

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The morgue in a abandoned hospital in Deventer...

Image via Wikipedia

“I can’t take it anymore!  I don’t care if I ever see your face again.”  These words were spoken by a husband to his wife, one gentle Spring evening.  He walked out the door vowing to himself to never speak to her again.  Three days later, he spoke to her.  But she didn’t answer.  The last conversation he had with her was as she lay on a slab in the coroner’s prep room.  He had to go identify what remained of her after a violent car accident.  His vow broken, along with his heart, was a vow that should never have been made.

Mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, friends, and enemies make vows of silence toward others every day.  And it is a rare thing when those vows can’t be broken.  But these situations are avoidable.   I could go into great detail about what to do to avoid using words you will surely regret.  But how useless would this post be?  Who would read a 10,000 word post?  Instead, I will go our relationship with God to make the point necessary.

The ultimate relationship anyone can have is that of himself and the Lord who made him.  How often this relationship is broken by the human alone.  We decide we will chase after a sinful path we knew well would not end in the pleasure of our God.  But we did it anyway.  And isn’t this what causes all human discord?  We want something the other doesn’t.  So we willingly break the bond of love and trust between us.

We can avoid every possible break in our relationship with God if we love Him more than those things which tear us apart.  It sounds simple when I type it here.  But in practise we find ourselves pulled into sin by a lack of love for His ways.  “. . . Do you love Me more than these?”

When was the last time you found yourself loving God more than the pleasures of sin?  Perhaps you’re stuck in a cycle of sin, confession, and restoration.  Retrospect tells us plainly how we define the word sin.  Hind sight is very clear when we find the relationship between God and ourselves broken.  We all have a weakness which we allow to trip us up and rip us from the loving and powerful prayer life.  This can be avoided if we train ourselves to love God.

We can’t conquer the sinful nature without a distinct and vibrant love for God.  What Jesus has done is to open the door for us into this relationship.  But He leaves it up to us to decide that this relationship with His Father is worth forsaking everything sinful.  My only hope is that those who read this will consider their love for God in a very deep manner.  There is a place where most will end up like that husband.  They will speak to God with a deep and overwhelming grief.  But it will be too late.

By His Grace.