In our Christian walk, we will all have failures. We will all fall! And we will all suffer the failures of repetitive sins. These are the sins that our spirit battles with constantly. The ones that always seem to raise their ugly heads in our weakest moments and follow us around from our past. And yes, even new ones since we were saved. Lets not deceive ourselves. We all will go through this at some times in our lives. Listen to what Paul tells us in Romans 7:19-20: “For I do not do the good that I want, but the evil I do not want is what I KEEP on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.” Yes, even Paul struggled in this. Yet, the Lord commands us to “Go, and sin no more”! An example of this is in John 8:11. So why would the Lord command us to do something that NONE can do? The Lord has forgiven us all our sins in the shedding of his blood…past, present, and future. But this does not give us the freedom to continue in unrepentant sin without consequences. As believers, we will always be at war with the sins of the flesh. This is why we are told to “Walk by the Spirit’. Galatians 5:16-18 tells us: “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the flesh…”. So we see that we all will sin through out our lives, but the Lord tells we will not continue in sin if we truly are His followers. So where is there forgiveness in repetitive sin, when we continually fall? The answer is that the Lord sees our HEARTS! Jeremiah 17:10 "But I, the Lord, search all the HEARTS and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their deeds deserve." When we fall into so sin, are we feeling remorse, pain, guilt, a sense of separation from God, etc? Do we desire to be obedient in all things? This is the condition of the heart that only the Lord sees. Where do we think these feelings come from? Do they come from our sinful and rebellious nature and the flesh? Of course not! These feelings are actually a blessing because they are from the conviction that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit places within us. Without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, there is no conviction; desire to repent and turn from our sins no matter what they are; change of HEART. This is how the Lord works in our lives to conform us to the image of His Son. 2 Corinthians 3:18-18”Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” By the guidance and teaching of His Holy Spirit. John 16:8 tells us of one of the results of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. “When He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment.” So be thankful, cheerful, and joyous. Because if you were not a child of God, you would be as the world and not only never recognize sin in our lives, but to be happily living in them.
As believers, we must never willfully sin or seek sinning with the idea that no matter what we do we are forgiven…our salvation is secure. If that is what we do then the Holy Spirit does not abide within us in the first place. But as His children, when we fall, and fall over and over again, it is the love of God for us that His Holy Spirit convicts us, and even chastises us, to seek forgiveness and repent. It is the changing of our hearts and what we seek, what is truly the most important thing to us that the Lord sees. And our actions will follow our hearts. And this is only accomplished through His Holy Spirit which dwells within each of us. So when we fall, lift up our heads and ask our Father, in Jesus Christ, to forgive us our sins and help us to repent of them. He will and has! And be thankful to the Lord for loving us so deeply as to convict our hearts each and every time we fall. Because He is doing this in order to transform us into the image if His Son…and this takes time! The Lord hasn’t, and won’t, give up on you. So don’t give up on Him no matter how many times we fall and no matter how hopeless we feel about ourselves. This is the path He has set before each of us.
Accept His forgiveness and move forward. And NEVER let the enemy tell you anything different. God bless you all and may His peace abound in each of you as you walk the path He has set before you.
Your comments are always welcomed and encouraged.
Psalm 34:3 "O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together." (KJV)
