Tag: sin nature

The Power to Walk Away from Sin

Romans 6:4
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

So what is this new life that we may live? As we struggle to attain a new sanctified life in Christ, we all come to know and experience that the promise for holiness is activated in our spirit, but is hampered by the weakness that remains in our flesh.

In the flesh, we are in a constant struggle to try to attain the holiness that we know has been set aside for us. The struggle is ongoing as we react to our call to holiness and attempt to adjust the way we live as new men and women in Christ. All along, we realize that we have been given the power to walk away from our old sin nature, but our flesh and our new spirit are in a battle. The flesh wants to keep us in the world. The Spirit wants to lead us on our path to sanctification. We find that there is no peace if we try to live in both worlds.

Knowing our weaknesses all too well, in His perfect mercy and loving kindness, Our Father in heaven set aside a Helper for us to manage through our daily struggles. He gave us a Counselor to help us overcome the calling of our flesh and the world. We were given the Holy Spirit to guide us and strengthen us and we were given God’s promise that He will perfect His strength in our weakness. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Cor 12:9

Let us call on the promise of Our Father in heaven. Let us rejoice in knowing that His grace is fully and perfectly sufficient to overcome our weaknesses. Let us strive to live new lives that are not conflicted by the world.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your perfect plan and provision for us to overcome our sin natures. We praise the name of Jesus for sacrificing His life so that we can have victory over sin. We bless the name of the Holy Spirit who comes alongside us to guide us and strengthen us. We pray, Lord, that You will show us how to end our struggle to balance our lives. May the Holy Spirit assist us and give us the strength to walk away from the world and commit everything in our lives to Jesus Christ, Our Savior. We ask all these things in in the name of our strength and our provision, Jesus Christ.

To Be Touched by the Hand of God

Galatians 1:1
This letter is from Paul, an apostle. I was not appointed by any group of people or any human authority, but by Jesus Christ himself and by God the Father, who raised Jesus from the dead.

When Paul was writing and speaking to the Galatians, he made it clear that he was on a completely different path in life when He was touched by the hand of God. Paul emphasized that it was God that changed him and not him who changed himself.

Because of our sin nature, we all begin our lives on an ill conceived path covered by darkness. Until Our Heavenly Father opens our eyes, we can not see the way, the truth and the life that is in Jesus Christ. Only when our new path has been made visible to us by the light of the Holy Spirit, can we receive the precious gift of salvation. All who are converted to be new men and women in Christ are called by the grace of God.

Upon accepting our salvation, we begin yet another journey – the journey to become holy. Just as salvation is not a work of our own hand, neither is the working out of our sanctification. The Holy Spirit within us molds our hearts so that we can submit to Jesus as Our Lord, Our Master and Our King. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to guide us to full submission to Our Savior so that God can do the work in us that is pleasing to Him. All the saved in Christ who are working on their sanctification are under the power and grace of the Holy Spirit working in them.

Let us recognize that there is nothing in this world that can bring us to victory over the darkness that the world offers. Let us be certain that we are totally incapable of overcoming the darkness of the world without the light of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Let us surrender to the urgings of the the Holy Spirit as He carries out the work of sanctification in our lives. Let us rejoice in knowing that our path to holiness was guaranteed on the Cross.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your loving kindness, Your mercy and Your grace that is expressed to us through the gift of our salvation. We praise You for taking us from the darkness of our lives in the flesh into the light of Your Holy Spirit. We rejoice in being guided into full submission to Our Lord, Our Master and Our King, Jesus Christ. We pray, Father, that You will strengthen us and regenerate us as we strive to overcome the world in order to live our new lives in Christ. We ask all these things in the name of Our Most Gracious Savior, Jesus Christ.

God Does Not Hold Us Responsible for Inherited Sin

Romans 5:19
For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

As a result of the disobedience of Adam, we were born with a sin nature. Because of Adam’s disobedience, we naturally put ourselves first in all things. This behavior alone puts us in direct violation of what Jesus taught were God’s greatest commands. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:38-39

The violation of either one of these two commands is enough to condemn us to eternal death. We cannot remove the condemning stain of this sin on our own. There is no escape or recovery from this sin except through the redemption provided through Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

As a result of the obedience of Jesus to the calling of His Father in heaven, we are made righteous in the eyes of the Father. God removed our sin through the sacrifice of His own Son. He removed our sin in the only way that was acceptable to Him – through the shed blood of His Son which cleanses us. We accept His mercy and eternal atonement through our surrender to His Son, Jesus Christ.

It is important to understand that God does not hold us responsible for inheriting sin. He will not condemn anyone because of the sin that was inherited. He will condemn those that refuse to accept Jesus as the only measure of deliverance from their inherited sin and their ongoing iniquities. He will condemn those who choose to live in submission to the darkness of the flesh rather than under surrender to the light of the world, Jesus Christ.

Let us strive to have those around us see that we love God above all things and that we love them as we love ourselves. Let us show the world what is only possible through Jesus Christ.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we ask forgiveness for the sin in our lives. We pray that You will reveal to us all the places in our lives where we are living in darkness, instead of in the Light. We ask You, Lord, for the grace to be able to repent of all the sin that remains in our lives. We thank You, Father, that through Your mercy You have made a way for us to be delivered from the condemnation that we deserve. We praise Your name, Father God, because through Your perfect love we have been given an eternal inheritance that we did not and cannot earn on our own. We bless the name of Jesus who now dwells within us. We pray that we may become Light to the darkness in world around us through His presence. We ask all these things in the name of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

We Shall Be Holy

1 Peter 1:16
Since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

Holiness is the desire and duty of every Christian. Recognizing that sustained holiness is beyond our grasp because of our sin nature, we must be mindful that it is still remains our responsibility as followers of Jesus Christ to reflect His holiness in our lives. We must seek holiness in all of our endeavors under all circumstances. We should reflect our holiness as we engage with all people.

Of course, this level of holiness is not reachable through our own efforts. We must trust in the grace of God for His holiness to be reflected in our lives. We must turn to the Holy Spirit for strength so that we can manifest the holiness that God has given us through the presence of His Son in our lives.

We shall be holy. It is a promise from Our Savior. We just will not be absolutely holy at any time in our life on earth. Absolute holiness is the final product for the disciples of Jesus Christ. We will become absolutely holy when we go to meet Our Lord for all eternity.

Let us prepare ourselves to live in the fullness of the manifest holiness of the One who dwells within us. Let us strive to have the world see us as holy.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the atonement that You have provided through Your Son which allows us to be holy, as You are holy. We rejoice in knowing that we are in perfect union with You when we are abiding in Your Son. We ask, Father, that the Holy Spirit will help us to be on guard against the sins to which we are inclined. We pray that Your countenance shine upon us and Your grace be with us always so that we may turn away from evil and obey Your will in all areas of our lives. May the world see the holiness of Your Son in our lives. We ask all these things in the name of Your Holy One, Jesus Christ.

Living in Accordance with the Purity of Christ

Matthew 15:19
For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

Have you ever stubbed your toe on a piece of furniture or perhaps leaned up quickly and hit your head on something? I am sure you have. We all have. Did the unexpected jolt of pain result in words of love and praise flowing from your mouth? For most of us, the answer would most certainly be no. More likely, we may have let out a few words that we were not too proud of.

Found in the core structure of the flesh is sin. Thus our response to trials can often be categorized as something less than holy. To think that we are capable of avoiding the trappings of our flesh on our own would be spiritually naive. In fact, we would be thinking contrary to the Word of God if we thought we had such control over ourselves. We are firmly bound to sin without the indwelling of Jesus Christ and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

We can lead good lives by worldly standards, but we cannot lead Godly lives without the saving grace of Jesus Christ and the filling of the Holy Spirit. Purity is too deep down for man to get to naturally. We need the Holy Spirit to guide us in surrendering our lives to Jesus Christ so that we may live in accordance with His unsullied purity.

Let us surrender our hearts to Jesus Christ. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to show us how to make our lives completely pleasing to Our Lord. Let us rejoice in knowing that His grace is sufficient.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us Your Son, Jesus, to be the supreme authority over our hearts. We pray that the Holy Spirit will strengthen us in our battle to live our lives in a manner that is pleasing to You. By Your loving kindness, Your mercy and Your grace, may we repent of everything in our lives that displeases You. We pray that we may surrender all that we have and all that we are to You. We rejoice in knowing that we will serve You in purity and perfection for all eternity. We ask all these things in the name of the One who is Perfect and Holy, Jesus Christ.

The Light and Power Needed to Escape the Darkness

Colossians 1:13
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,

Sin is our nature. It never leaves our flesh. It keeps us in darkness from which there is no escape. Without Jesus Christ in our lives, we are easy prey for Satan who stands ready to exploit the power of sin in our lives at a moment’s notice.

But our merciful Heavenly Father made it part of His plan to give us the light and the power that we need to escape the darkness. He provided a way for us to be bond servants to His Son and not to be slaves to Satan. Through our relationship with His Crucified Son, we are rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought into the kingdom of God. We receive true spiritual light as Christ is revealed to us, causing the prince of darkness to flee from us and the scales of darkness and blindness to fall from our eyes.

Our only refuge from sin is Jesus Christ. By faith in Our Savior we are redeemed at the expense of His shed blood. We are forgiven of our sins so that we may become objects of the Father’s love and delight, just as His Son is.

Let us rejoice in knowing that we have been transferred into the kingdom of the Light of the World, Jesus Christ. Let us seek to become beacons of His light for the world around us. Let us humbly accept our roles as vessels of His light so that He may draw others from the darkness into His eternal light.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing a way for us to be freed from our sinful natures. We thank You, Jesus, for giving us victory over sin through Your shed blood and death on the Cross. We thank You, Holy Spirit, for standing with us and strengthening us to overcome the sin in our lives. We pray that we will come to the humble place where we recognize that we are incapable of victory over sin without the presence of Jesus Christ in our lives. We rejoice in knowing that one day we will stand in the light for all eternity and darkness will never again touch us. We pray that we may become beacons of light for the world around us. We ask all these things in the name of the Great Light, Jesus Christ.

Lifted From Our Old Lives in the Flesh

Romans 6:5
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

When Jesus chose to accept the will of His Father, He chose to die on the Cross for the sins of all mankind. Jesus’ death did not come quickly. It was necessary for Jesus to suffer every scourge mark, to suffer every ounce of pain and to suffer the loss of every drop of blood for His sacrifice for mankind to be made complete.

When we chose to accept Jesus Christ as Our Savior, we chose to let our old sinful man die. Just as Jesus’ death was not carried out quickly, our old sinful nature will not be completely put to rest in short fashion. For the old sinful man in us to die completely, we will have to endure trials, tribulations and sufferings of all type that will transform us to be completely in the will of Our Father in heaven.

With the sacrifice of His human body complete, the Holy Spirit resurrected Jesus’ spirit from His body to return in His glorified body to the Father. When we die in Christ, the same power of His resurrection will lift us from our old lives in the flesh and enable us to stand sinless before the Father in our glorified bodies. It will not be because we became better people. It will be because we will have become completely new people in Christ. It will be because we have been united with Him through His resurrection for all eternity.

Let us joyfully claim our victory over death and sin. Let us exalt the name of Our Resurrected Savior.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for raising Your Son to meet You in heaven after His death on the Cross. Thank You for preparing the way for us to gain our eternal inheritance as Your children through the power of the Resurrection. Father, release the full power of the Holy Spirit in our lives so that we can surrender completely to our new lives in Christ, leaving behind forever the old man that torments us daily. We ask all these things in the name of Our Risen Lord, Jesus Christ.

The Fullness of Life that Comes from God

Ephesians 3:19
May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Jesus loves each one of us unconditionally. He loves us so much that He gave up His position as Son of God to become Son of Man. He endured the pain and shame of the Cross so that He could become the sacrificial lamb that was necessary to provide the blood to wash away our sins, to make us acceptable to the Father.

He extended His unconditional love by sending the Holy Spirit to convict us of our sins, so that we would understand His offer of salvation and accept it. He continues to extend His unconditional love by dwelling within each of us that have accepted Him as Our Savior, so that we may have the strength and the power to overcome the sinful nature that still tries to rule in our lives.

He continuously pours out His perfect love and forgiveness to each of us. He places no limit on the love that He pours into us because He wants it to overflow our cups. He wants us to become living vessels of His perfect love and forgiveness so that the world will know Him and know the fullness of His love.

Let us lift the name of Jesus above all other names. Let us rejoice in His incomparable love. Let us claim the fullness of life and power that comes from a relationship with the Son of God. May our changed lives proclaim His immeasurable love, so that others may be drawn to Him.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the perfect love and forgiveness that You have poured out into our lives. We exalt the name of Jesus who became the Son of Man in order to fulfill our need for a perfect sacrificial lamb. We thank You, Father, for the blood of Your Son that washes away our sin and makes it possible for us to receive and share Your perfect love. We ask that we may become instruments of Your good work and vessels of Your perfect love and forgiveness for the world around us. We pray that we will live in the fullness of the life and power that is offered by You through Your Son. We ask all these things in the incomparable name of the Son of God, the Son of Man, Jesus Christ.

Escaping the Darkness

John 12:46
I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

Each and every one of us was born into darkness. We were born with an unregenerate spirit and a spirit of unbelief. We were born with a darkness in our nature that makes us totally unacceptable to Almighty God.

This did not catch God by surprise. Through His loving kindness, His mercy and His grace, He provided a plan by which each of us could remove the darkness from our lives so that we would be able to stand in His presence one day and serve Him according to His eternal will for our lives. As part of His gracious plan, the Holy Spirit was instructed to reveal to each of us that upon believing in Jesus Christ as Our Savior, Our Heavenly Father provides us with the way in which we can become acceptable to Him.

Unfortunately, because our sin nature remains with us as long we are in our earthly bodies, we will continue to make choices that are according the world’s standards and not Our Lord’s. Thus we will bring darkness back into our lives. Our compassionate Creator had a plan for this weakness as well. In our new lives in Christ, we are able to see and understand the darkness that the world is offering us. We are able to overcome our natural ignorance about sin and take our victory over sin. Through Jesus Christ who strengthens us, we are able to walk in the light of truth, faith and holiness. We are able to walk this path of enlightenment on this earth until the day we die and until our day of living in Christ’s eternal light is upon us.

Let us repent of the darkness in our lives. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us all of the areas in our lives that reflect anything but the perfect Light of Jesus Christ. Let us show the world how living in the fullness of Our Savior overcomes the pervading darkness.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing the way, the truth and the life that is Your Son, Jesus, so that we can have victory over the darkness in our lives. We bless the name of Jesus and pray for the wisdom, understanding and counsel that we need to rely daily on Your Son, who came as the Light of the World. May we be set free from the darkness of sin, whether it be by ignorance or error. May Your grace allow us to live in the light rather than in the misery of the darkness. May we become broken vessels that allow Your light to shine through to those around us who are still living in darkness. We ask all these things in the name of the Eternal Light, Jesus Christ.

What is This New Life in Christ?

Romans 6:4
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

So what is this new life that we may live? As we struggle to attain a new sanctified life in Christ, we all come to know and experience that the promise for holiness is activated in our spirit, but is hampered by the weakness that remains in our flesh.

In the flesh, we are in a constant struggle to try to attain the holiness that we know has been set aside for us. The struggle is ongoing as we react to our call to holiness and attempt to adjust the way we live as new men and women in Christ. All along, we realize that we have been given the power to walk away from our old sin nature, but our flesh and our new spirit are in a battle. The flesh wants to keep us in the world. The Spirit wants to lead us on our path to sanctification. We find that there is no peace if we try to live in both worlds. We have to get off the proverbial fence to find victory.

Knowing our weaknesses all too well, in His perfect mercy and loving kindness, Our Father in heaven set aside a Helper for us to manage through our daily struggles. He gave us a Counselor to help us overcome the calling of our flesh and the world. We were given the Holy Spirit to guide us and strengthen us and we were given God’s promise that He will perfect His strength in our weakness. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Cor 12:9

Let us call on the promise of Our Father in heaven. Let us rejoice in knowing that His grace is fully and perfectly sufficient to overcome our weaknesses. Let us strive to live new lives that are not conflicted by the world.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your perfect plan and provision for us to overcome our sin natures. We praise the name of Jesus for sacrificing His life so that we can have victory over sin. We bless the name of the Holy Spirit who comes alongside us to guide us and strengthen us. We pray, Lord, that You will show us how to end our struggle to balance our lives. May the Holy Spirit assist us and give us the strength to walk away from the world and commit everything in our lives to Jesus Christ, Our Savior. We ask all these things in in the name of our strength and our provision, Jesus Christ.