Gideon Posted July 9, 2018 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 14 Topic Count: 79 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 1,177 Content Per Day: 0.31 Reputation: 826 Days Won: 1 Joined: 10/04/2013 Status: Offline Share Posted July 9, 2018 If we are children of God, we are told that we have an adversary, the devil, who does not slumber nor sleep. He is at war with us, and we are told that we should not be ignorant of his devices. Make no mistake, it is all out war. The Bible calls it our good fight of faith, and we are given armor, weaponry and a shield to insure we are not overcome, but rather, walk as overcomers. But what if we are experiencing no struggle, no warfare at all? What does that tell us? There are three reasons for this, as far as I can see. 1) Like Paul, one may have fought a good fight, and have finished their course, and are fully established in Christ, walking as one, not two. I suspect this is rare indeed. Considering that this statement by Paul was made at the end of his ministry, then if this is you, congratulations. That is not me... yet. But I will continue to press. 2) In the ministry of Jesus, after He faced off with Satan in major warfare, we are told that Satan left Him for a season. There are, thank goodness, times of refreshing from the battle against Satan, his accusations and temptations. Here we rest, draw new strength from the Lord, knowing that this time of peace is temporary. The devil will be back, that is for sure. These two categories above are both commendable for us as believers. But there is a third category where no battle is occurring. It is when we have stopped wearing our armor, stopped wielding our sword and our shield of faith is.... somewhere... where the heck did I put it? I can make this no plainer. If this is our walk with God, and there is no resistance in our spirit to the attacks of darkness, no places in our walk where Satan attacks, no temptations that need to be resisted, and we do not hear the accusations of the enemy, there is great danger here. In this place, Satan does not need to attack, for we have it on cruise control. We have agreed to a truce. We are told that our walk with God is like a race.... not a sprint, but an endurance event. We are told to resist him steadfast in the faith, but if there is no resistance, the battle is being lost. Our prayer of faith started this walk, but that prayer of faith also awoke the enemy to our task ahead of us. to press in, to walk in all we have been given and to seek more. And that, guys, gets him determined to stop us. This, sadly, is not a rare occurrence. Why have so many that once did run well, stop running at all, stop battling, stop drawing nearer and nearer to the Lord? It is quite simple, actually. When we are taught that holiness and purity are impossible to achieve in this life and that no matter how much we sin whether or not we repent, grace has us covered, the natural response from our old nature is to kick it back a notch and rest. If sin still has a hold on us, generally in one or two very specific areas.... what I call our ‘Achilles heel”sins.... and there is no guilt, no conviction, no chastening, then listen, something is amiss, and badly. Everyone of us receive chastening and correction if we are His, but if we arrive at the place that God is not speaking to us in some way to stop the sin, or to pull out of the rest stop, then the diagnosis is a hardened heart, a direct result of sinning again and again so much that it doesn’t seem so bad after a while. We start to make our excuses...... everybody does it.....I’m only human.... grace has me covered.... and little by little our faith, once burning bright and clean, becomes dull and lifeless. And the danger increases the longer we persist. Faith can actually be confused with head knowledge, where we think we believe, but it is not with softened hearts but hardened heads. Oh, my dear saints, the days are getting darker. Temptations will increase. Lusts that accompany a fleshly nature will surely become stronger and stronger, and if we remain choosing to not battle, because we reason God wants us happy, then we are under great deception. Listen. God wants us holy. Why? Because sin and sullied or hardened consciences prevent us from fellowshipping with our Father, and like a good Father, He wants closeness. One of the most confusing verses in the entire Bible is where we are told to struggle to enter into the rest that God has for each one of us. Our fleshly minds can make no sense of it. Why would we have to struggle if we are trying to rest?? It is actually quite easy to explain. It is in our act of struggle to stop sinning, and to resist the arrows thrown at us by Satan, that we finally see one of the great truths of the gospel. We cannot be holy by our efforts. We cannot cease from sin. We cannot love a God with our whole hearts. CANNOT. Yet.... we must. It is pure hearts that will see the Lord. Without holiness, we may gain Heaven but be robbed of the joy of actually SEEING Him. So why in the world would our God tell us to do something He knows we cannot do? Because we do not know we cannot do it. Only when we try with all our might and fail.... and fail again are we brought to the place where we truly hate our old fleshly nature that has a traitor living inside. Ahhhh, but when we finallly give up, willingly declaring absolute surrender, and like Paul in Romans 7, cry out to Him to do what only He can do.... deliver us from the power of darkness... to our joy and amazement we discover the full power of grace. Here, when we are hungry and broken, and we finally see the only solution is to die, we finally see the solution He has provided for us, death to the old us, while providing us new natures that hate sin and love the light. Listen. There is no traitor in the new man. He will resist, steadfast in the faith. He will battle, and not cave into satan’s wishes. He will take the way of escape God has promised to provide us. He will wield His shield of faith, and see all the arrows cast at us by our enemy quenched by the keeping power of our God. Glory to God! And why will he do all these things? Because God IN HIM will cause him to do so. The biggest hindrance to our growing up into Him in all things is unbelief. We do not see how it is remotely possible to stop sinning and to actually walk in victory all day every day. But why is this? We have assumed it is something WE must do, so with defeat inevitable, we simply have chosen to stop battling. But in these last days, saints who have long ago stopped resisting evil in certain areas of their lives, are going to be brought to the place where they again believe that what we cannot do, our God will do IN US! Nothing is impossible to our God, even making us truly obedient children! Fairh is about to be restored to us. Real faith. Faith that allows us to actually abide in Him, with us not fulfilling the lusts of the flesh! Faith that is strong enough to overcome the world, the flesh and yes, the devil himself. May all those found struggling with sin and guilt be encouraged. your God will move mountains to see that you escape the bounds of Romans 7 and discover the FREE INDEED Jesus has for you. And if you have read this and realize that despite your walk with the Lord perhaps includinga lot things about the Lord..... Sunday services, ministry, good works, etc. but you can admit to Him that there is no battle being waged in your heart against the darkness in you, and no hunger for more intimacy with Him and that there is no chastening happening when you sin, I pray for you that you can cry out to God to restore your first love, and hear His sweet voice again calling out to you to let Him back in so that He can plant your feet back on solid ground...... as an overcomer. Blessings, Gideon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not me Posted July 9, 2018 Group: Royal Member Followers: 14 Topic Count: 512 Topics Per Day: 0.23 Content Count: 3,183 Content Per Day: 1.45 Reputation: 3,349 Days Won: 1 Joined: 04/06/2018 Status: Offline Share Posted July 9, 2018 (edited) @Gideon I have thought there are two types of sinners; 1 Timothy 5:24 (NASB) The sins of some men are quite evident, going before them to judgment; for others, their [sins] follow after. Those who’s sins are evident and manifested to all that would see. And another type who’s sins “follow after” or in other words not manifested plainly. I have thought that those who’s sins (like mine) were blatant, were in a much better position before God to grow. For one who does not see or recognize their sins, can fall into the trap of thinking, they have arrived, or not so much a sinner like the next guy. Which I have always thought was a much tougher spot to be in than those who’s sins cry out. But than that could be, because I fall into the first category and can’t or don’t understand the second group. Just my thoughts on the subject. Much love in Christ, Not me Edited July 9, 2018 by Not me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gideon Posted July 10, 2018 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 14 Topic Count: 79 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 1,177 Content Per Day: 0.31 Reputation: 826 Days Won: 1 Joined: 10/04/2013 Status: Offline Author Share Posted July 10, 2018 7 minutes ago, Not me said: @Gideon I have thought there are two types of sinners; 1 Timothy 5:24 (NASB) The sins of some men are quite evident, going before them to judgment; for others, their [sins] follow after. Those who’s sins are evident and manifested to all that would see. And another type who’s sins “follow after” or in other words not manifested plainly. I have thought that those who’s sins (like mine) were blatant, were in a much better position before God to grow. For one who does not see or recognize their sins, can fall into the trap of thinking, they have arrived, or not so much a sinner like the next guy. Which I have always thought was a much tougher spot to be in than those who’s sins cry out. But than that could be, because I fall into the first category and can’t or don’t understand the second group. Just my thoughts on the subject. Much love in Christ, Not me I believe you are quite right. When Jesus ministered on the earth, much of His time and effort was to the offscouring of the world. This irritated the outwardly righteous looking Pharisees to no end. But what Jesus told them confirms what you have just said. The prostitures, the drunkards, the tax collectors not only listened but hung on every word. Why? Because they knew they had need of a doctor, and they realized He was the great physician. But the Pharisees, they assumed that they were actually quite pleasing to God and did not need a physician at all. Andrew Murray once wrote that of all the sins, religious pride was the hardest to be freed from, because it was that pride that prevented one from seeing their great need. Is it hopeless for those who think they have need of nothing when they assume all is great between them and the Lord, even as willful sin still lives in their lives? Not at all! In these last days, we will all be awakened to our true state. The sheep, no matter how they have previously lived, will admit their great need and cry out for deliverance from their contentment without godliness. Others, the tares, will understand that to truly walk with the Lord, hating their own life, and declaring their own righteousness as of no value, will be a mountain they simply cannot or will not want to scale. Some will walk away altogether, others will simply cling to their religious life, full of head knowledge but devoid of the fruits of God. this is the valley of decision, when each one of us will finally understand what the cost of our salvation really is. The sheep will count the cost.... and gladly pay it. The goats will insist there is no cost, when in truth they are simply trying to avoid paying it. And what is that cost? Us.... our carnal self, our old nature Blessings, Gids 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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