This sub-forum is where the rubber of reality meets the road of what our God has promised us. As one who battled sexual addiction for most of his adult life, my heart goes out for all who struggle with addictions, no matter what form they may take. The question needs to be asked however, is this the best God can do?
I was saved in 1970 and for the next 38 years battled unsuccessfully against porn and masturbation. I tried everything but reining in my fleshly desires was simply impossible. Friends would tell me to just relax, stop fighting so hard to walk pleasing to God, just accept grace because it makes holiness a 'done deal'. But I was simply not wired like that. Guilt followed me everywhere. How about you?
I longed to please my Father. I wanted pure thoughts. But like Paul in Romans 7, the things I wanted to avoid couldn't be avoided, and those things I longed to do, well, they never got done. It is a miserable place to live, and no matter how much people would tell me that there was no condemnation for those in Christ, I had an abundance of it... in spades. I was the poster boy for Romans 7, lol. Friends would tell me to stop being so 'sin conscious' and told me that my failures were there to keep me humble. They were wrong. They were there to war against my faith, and I was losing the war.
I suspect there are some of you reading these words who, like me, find yourselves chained to your fleshly desires, robbing you of your peace, stealing your joy, as drugs, alcohol, sex, and a myriad of other things keep you bound up, making your life miserable. To you who fit this very broad swath of Christianity, I want to ask you a question.
What does God say about this?
Does He not promise to not only forgive us but also to deliver us from the power of evil itself? Did Jesus not promise to make us free indeed, free from committing sin? Are we not promised to walk as overcomers, victorious over the world, the flesh and the devil? Indeed He has.
Can I give you some true good news? Those amazing promises are about to be fulfilled in even the weakest here, and that includes you. You may have battled drug addiction for twenty years, trying to walk the Christian walk but left feeling like a second class saint at best. It matters not. You have thought that you were too weak to ever walk like others walked. But you see, the truth is not that you have been too weak, but that you have been too strong.
Our modern gospel, the one we have by and large embraced, may spring the prison doors open, but never do we get it that God wants to leave the prison and walk in the light, enjoying what He has promised us. We simply are instructed how to decorate our prison cells to make them tolerable until finally, we get the FREE INDEED when we die. Baloney!
The church has been walking in a 'healed only slightly' mode ever since the grievous wolves entered the flock after Paul's death. But God has assured us that in the last days, He is going to restore us to our former glory and praise God, the latter rain that is now beginning will be GREATER than the former rain in the book of Acts. Wow!
God has asked me to share the HOW of holiness, the key of how to obey Him, to where you can actually count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations. How can this be possible if every time you step out to please God and live for Him, you fail.
No, dear saints. We shall soon see that joy comes from Satan throwing his best at us and yet discovering we stand fast, resisting the enemy, kept by the power of God through faith, and able to say no to the temptation just as He promised us.
Impossible? Not at all, and our eyes are even now beginning to be opened to what our God is about to do IN US! Glory!
More to come.....
I was saved in 1970 and for the next 38 years battled unsuccessfully against porn and masturbation. I tried everything but reining in my fleshly desires was simply impossible. Friends would tell me to just relax, stop fighting so hard to walk pleasing to God, just accept grace because it makes holiness a 'done deal'. But I was simply not wired like that. Guilt followed me everywhere. How about you?
I longed to please my Father. I wanted pure thoughts. But like Paul in Romans 7, the things I wanted to avoid couldn't be avoided, and those things I longed to do, well, they never got done. It is a miserable place to live, and no matter how much people would tell me that there was no condemnation for those in Christ, I had an abundance of it... in spades. I was the poster boy for Romans 7, lol. Friends would tell me to stop being so 'sin conscious' and told me that my failures were there to keep me humble. They were wrong. They were there to war against my faith, and I was losing the war.
I suspect there are some of you reading these words who, like me, find yourselves chained to your fleshly desires, robbing you of your peace, stealing your joy, as drugs, alcohol, sex, and a myriad of other things keep you bound up, making your life miserable. To you who fit this very broad swath of Christianity, I want to ask you a question.
What does God say about this?
Does He not promise to not only forgive us but also to deliver us from the power of evil itself? Did Jesus not promise to make us free indeed, free from committing sin? Are we not promised to walk as overcomers, victorious over the world, the flesh and the devil? Indeed He has.
Can I give you some true good news? Those amazing promises are about to be fulfilled in even the weakest here, and that includes you. You may have battled drug addiction for twenty years, trying to walk the Christian walk but left feeling like a second class saint at best. It matters not. You have thought that you were too weak to ever walk like others walked. But you see, the truth is not that you have been too weak, but that you have been too strong.
Our modern gospel, the one we have by and large embraced, may spring the prison doors open, but never do we get it that God wants to leave the prison and walk in the light, enjoying what He has promised us. We simply are instructed how to decorate our prison cells to make them tolerable until finally, we get the FREE INDEED when we die. Baloney!
The church has been walking in a 'healed only slightly' mode ever since the grievous wolves entered the flock after Paul's death. But God has assured us that in the last days, He is going to restore us to our former glory and praise God, the latter rain that is now beginning will be GREATER than the former rain in the book of Acts. Wow!
God has asked me to share the HOW of holiness, the key of how to obey Him, to where you can actually count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations. How can this be possible if every time you step out to please God and live for Him, you fail.
No, dear saints. We shall soon see that joy comes from Satan throwing his best at us and yet discovering we stand fast, resisting the enemy, kept by the power of God through faith, and able to say no to the temptation just as He promised us.
Impossible? Not at all, and our eyes are even now beginning to be opened to what our God is about to do IN US! Glory!
More to come.....
