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| Photo Credit: Flickr, Eduardo Amorin |
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we
may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16 NKJV)
I am sure all us have battled, and still battling sin in our
lives. In my journey with the Lord, I have experienced times in which sin kept
knocking on my door saying, “Just go do it…it will be pleasing…” I resist, yet
it keeps knocking. I am sure many of you, if not all have experienced the same
thing. Often times when we come to Christ and get saved, there is a sin (or
sins) in our life which does not want to go away. Maybe we are tempted to party
and get drunk or stoned. Maybe it is a sexual sin. Maybe it is something else,
like anger or worry. We believe we are starting to have victory, only to find ourselves doing the
very thing we do not want to do. Fortunately, God has given us a way of escape,
but the question is, do we want to take it? And if we do, then what is the way of escape? In simple
terms, the answer is that Jesus is the way of escape. Below I am going to share with
you three things from Romans chapter 6 which will help one overcome their
temptation. Before I share with you these with you, I first want to make a quick statement. Be persistent, do not give up in your battle!
No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to
man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to
be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the
way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. (1
Corinthians 10:13 NKJV)
3 Things You Need To Know:
- Know The Truth.
5 For if we have been united
together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the
likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that
the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of
sin. (Romans 6:5-6 NKJV)
The first essential is to know the truth. As believers, our
old man was crucified with Christ. We no longer need to be slaves to sin. How
would you know this fact if you have never taken the time to learn what God says in
His Word? Many of us, we are only fed on Sunday morning. Commit to spending
time daily in the Word learning all you can about what God has to say. It is
also wise to commit to memorizing Bible verses that way you have truth hid in
your heart to draw upon in the time of need. Remember Jesus used Scripture to
defeat the devil when He was tempted in the wilderness. (See Matthew 4:1-11)
Just as a side note, here are a couple free tools you may use to help memorize
scripture.
- Reckon
Yourselves To Be Dead To Sin.
10 For the
death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He
lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon
yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Romans 6:10-11 NKJV)
Other translations say to count or consider yourselves dead to sin. In order to consider yourself dead to sin, you must believe God’s Word to be true. It is then when one may behave as though he
is a child of God, instead of a child of the devil. As believers, Jesus set us
free from the penalty of sin and we are able to walk in His strength. We will
never stop sinning in this life, but we are no longer salves to it. Instead, we
become salves of righteousness.
And having been set
free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. (Romans 6:18 NKJV)
- Quit Presenting
Yourself To Sin, But To God.
And do not present
your members as instruments of unrighteousness to
sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and
your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
(Romans 6:13 NKJV)
We must all remember that “we have been bought at a price in, therefore we are to glorify God.” (See 1 Corinthians 6:20) Make it our hearts desire to
live life to bring glory to God, not ourselves. Rejoice in all things of God and be a man or
woman after His own heart. As we do this, we will love the things God loves,
and hate the things God hates.
Delight yourself also in the Lord,
And
He shall give you the desires of your heart.
(Psalm 37:4 NKJV)
Hello Ken, Life can be a battle. at times its hard to tell the truth. Yet now I know I must. When you know what you'll say will hurt another, what do you do? the answer is, still tell the truth.
ReplyDeleteSin, at the moment I am hurt with my husband. He says things that hurt me, how do I reply? Tonight he told me of a woman he knew when he was young who had a perfect body, NOW, he says, she looks like me.....
My answer, "well thank you, I used to have a perfect body once also."
It hurts sometimes to hold your tongue and let it go. In a way I wanted to tell the truth to him also.
The good thing is, this life is preparing us for the next one, and that's a wonderful promise to remember. Yes! we bring Glory to God and not to ourselves by the way we are. Its not easy, sin knocks at the door all the time.
Hi Crystal Mary. It is good to see you visiting. Some situations sure can be hard. I too sometimes do not know what I should say or respond. Sometimes I hold things in. Other times I say things I regret. Yes, what you say that this life is preparing us for the next. We should hold on to that.
DeleteThank you for your visit and sharing your thoughts. And I lift you and your husband up in prayer.
Blessings,
Ken
Yes, Ken!
ReplyDeleteSo often I find myself not only opening the door to sin, but inviting it in for a meal and a cup of coffee. Some sins are subtle and hard to distinguish from just *normal* stuff - for me that would be worrying. But, the more subtle they are sometimes, the better they often work.
The enemy is a master with his weapons.
Best to put on ALL the armor of God. In my case, it's that helmet that I need to shut out the hammering thoughts and flaming arrows of fear.
GOD BLESS!
Sharon, worry is also a big one for me. Often I am convinced things are going to fall apart, especially with the economy and my money. I sure look forward to that day when we do not have to deal with sin anymore. But praise God, He is working in us and through us and molding us into the image of His Son.
DeleteThank you for sharing your thoughts and may God bless you,
Ken
Hi Ken,
ReplyDeletea lovely encouraging post with perfect scriptures for strengthening in trials. The devil may present himself as a strong man but we have a Lord who is much stronger. Praise the name of Jesus. God bless.
Brenda, Amen to that! I am so glad that the Lord is much stronger than the devil. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and may God bless you,
DeleteKen
Hi Ken,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the links. I have a terrible time memorizing verses word for word. I am pretty good at paraphrasing them but I believe it is important to quote directly, especially in warfare.
Forgiving is important here, forgiving ourselves when we sin and fall short. Sometimes when I fall I have a terrible time forgiving myself. I so want to please and honour Father but sometimes the temptation is so great and then I regret. I know this is Satan badgering me and making me feel guilty, yet the 'feeling' of guilt is great. I need to forgive myself, repent and get up and keep on keeping on in the walk towards the goal.
This is well put together, thank you!
Blessings,
<><
I had an issue just recently and had to ask forgiveness right away. And I know I was forgiven...it was not a big sin but it was sin...something the Lord has told me to watch out for...all these years and in a split second I goofed. Thank the Lord for his mercy and grace.
ReplyDeletechild of God, I recently started using both of these websites, and it sure does help with memorization of Scripture. I hear what you are saying about forgiving ourselves. Sometimes we just want to keep beating ourselves up over this thing that we done. Unfortunately, we go too far in the other direction and do the opposite. By that I mean, we think, "since I am forgiven, my sin is no big deal."
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your thoughts and may God bless you,
Ken
Dee, That is a part of our Christian walk. We all blow it. It sure is a good thing for the Lords mercy and forgiveness. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and may God bless you,
ReplyDeleteKen
I like your statement that our way of escape is Jesus, and more Jesus. Great truths.
ReplyDeletePeggy, I appreciate you stopping by and sharing your thoughts. May God bless you,
DeleteKen
This is a good word. I can remember surrendering certain things to God over the years, and having Him change the desires of my heart! Praise Him for his goodness.
ReplyDeleteKaren, Amen! Praise Him for His Goodness. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and may God bless you,
DeleteKen
Hi Ken,
ReplyDeleteI certainly have the amazing ability to make excuses sometimes (!), but thankfully I have the ability to reach out to God for victory over sin rather than trying to overcome it on my own. It’s all too easy to feel defeated and let our mistakes haunt us; but we should not become preoccupied with the past and let it cripple us. Because our faith is in Christ, we can rest in the present and look forward to what God will help us to become. We must realize that we are forgiven and move on to a faithful life of obedience! :)
Have a wonderful week my friend!
Denise
Denise, I sure do know that same ability myself. Thank God that He continues working in us and bringing change which brings glory to Him. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and may God bless you also, my friend.
DeleteKen
I think that you are right Ken. There is a discrimination between that which is "Right & Wrong", "Sin & "Righteous", "Darkness and Light", the "old" man & the "new" man, "the child of God and the child of the devil" - Matthew 13: 37-39. Maybe, the citizen of Heaven should try to change the world by bring the light of truth in the gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world, rather than be quiet among it or be a part of it. Maybe, we've lost sight of this and your message is a "wake up" call to us all. Great post.
ReplyDeleteBrian, I have thought a lot lately about what you said about changing the world by bringing the light of truth to this lost and dying world. Across our nation, we see a country falling away from God, and sin is glorified. Jesus called us to take the Gospel to all, and this is what we should do. I think about the verse which says, "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." We need to take this seriously. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and may God bless you,
DeleteKen
Excellent post Ken. Staying strong in the Word of God, reading it, studying it and sitting under solid teachers will help in that battle.
ReplyDeleteThe more we know the Lord, not only through His Word, but seeing Him at work in our lives, the more we love Him. That too can be a constraining force in our lives to walk as that new creation in Christ.
Thank you for fighting the good fight and sharing with your readers. Blessings in Christ...Susan
Susan, Jesus said, "if you love me, you will keep My Word." Building that relationship is so vitally important in our walks with the Lord. And how can we build it without that personal devotional time and allowing Him to work in our lives? Also, like you said, "sitting under solid teachers will help in the battle."
DeleteThank you for sharing your thoughts and may God bless you.
Ken