How many there are who are following the Lord, trying to please the Lord with how they live out their faith, but who are frustrated with their weakness, their human condition! They want to do good, but are stuck in Romans 7, and never able to walk in the joy of Romans 8, our birthright.
My word to you is "Perfect! You are blessed!" Why? Because you KNOW you are failing. The spirit in you is leading you, teaching you. Are you perplexed as to how it can it be a good thing to be weak and a failure? Trust me, it can.
Here are my thoughts, and I can only point back to my "divine visitation" as to what God showed me over five years ago when I was bound by a life constricting porn addiction, masturbating six to seven times daily. It humbles me, shames me, to have to own up to what I was, and I am embarrassed, but it will show you the abundance of God's mercy and power. God has faithfully shown me that what He revealed to me works. What I share is true, that weakness is God's plan for us, yes, even a necessity, as we are shown how to overcome and defeat our enemy. Needless to say, in my bound situation, I was NOT free. I WAS the poster child for Romans 7, a wretched man wanting to be good, to be holy, but failing miserably.
When I finally was at the end of my rope in tears with no more theories to try, 38 years of fruitless attempts and failed methods as to how to control my flesh, I was ready to quit following the Lord. It was at y lowest, with all hope gone, that He appeeared to me. No face, no body, just blinding light and a voice like sweet thunder. At that point, I was broken, totally and completely and was ready to walk away, not because I did not think Him the Son of God, but because I was such a terrible witness, and longed to be free as He promised but was not able to walk it out in real life. To y faithless, despairing heart, He spoke these words:
"For this my son, I am well pleased with you."
Yeah, it made no sense to me either, It simply added confusion to my brokeness and put my on my face.
He continued:
"I knew all along that you could not walk the walk, but YOU did not know it."
Here is the lesson we do not get. It is the "hard part" of our lesson. We were never expected to obey. We were expected to try....and try....and fail....and fail.... and finally break before Him. Before you start boiling tar and plucking chickens, bear with me. We cannot obey, not as God desires, for we are saddled with an old nature, a nature that is in direct rebellion to God. It is our flesh, our fallen nature, and ALL of its righteousness is as filthy rags. That is why there is that battle inside us, a battle we always seem to be losing. Our flesh still has us prisoner.
The commandments to "Be ye holy" were there to break us, but instead of letting the law as the schoolmaster do its work in us and bring us to our knees, we have instead fallen into the trap and tried to ease the conviction by lowering the standard to "We are only human, so He expects us to just "try our best".
NO, brothers and sisters. The foundations of God are sure, and written on Heaven's gate, it is still written...
"Let everyone that nameth the name of the Lord depart from iniquity."
Do not be fooled. Forgiveness was never meant to eradicate the need for full obedience to the Spirit of God. NEVER. We are not forgiven and then told to TRY to be "good". God tells us "Be ye holy, for I am holy."
Do not fear or hang your head in discouragement over this. Our God's goodness is BETTER and STRONGER than our badness! Praise God! He has left us with no options except to fail. That is His plan, for only when we are totally broken of ALL self confidence are we finally prepared to do the ONE thing we can do to walk in obedience. ONLY BELIEVE. Believe that Christ IN US can indeed walk out the victory in this life.
Oh that we might finally see! We CANNOT be holy. We CANNOT be good. They that are in the flesh CANNOT please God. In us dwells NO GOOD THING.
Back to my "education" God granted me at the lowest point of my life. As He took away the scales of mis-understanding and unbelief from my eyes. 38 years of stubborn pride-filled self-effort melted into a puddle like wax hit by a blowtorch. He then asked me this question.
"In all of your trying, did you ever do what I told you to do through my servant Paul in Romans 6?"
Have you ever reckoned yourself DEAD to sin and alive unto Me?"
Look. I have fasted for up to 21 days, I memorized large parts of scripture. I went to church three times a week for YEARS. But never had I done what we were all plainly and clearly told to do. Finally I had the answer I so longed for. What did I do? I did not even hesitate. I spoke, out loud, LOUDLY out loud, for God and satan and most importantly for my own spirit to hear. I spoke truth...truth that sets free.
"I am dead. When Christ died, my old man died. I am a new creature and old things have passed away. Sin shall NOT have dominion over me. I owe the flesh NOTHING. I am now light in the Lord, and it is because this is true, that I am now empowered to walk as a child of light."
I cannot even describe what happened next. Deep down, a seed of faith that God had planted in me 38 years previously, small and shriveled, but still a viable seed, sprouted to life. My faith was now alive, weak, but alive. I had finally fully entered "the good fight of faith" and God's plan for me now was to "become established in that faith".
Do you remember what we are told in Revelations 19, that in the last days the saints overcame the enemy by "the blood of the lamb AND the words of their testimony"?
We as His children have thought the blood of the lamb is all we need, but until we combine it in faith with our testimony (and OUT LOUD is best to make sure it is "documented" in our spirits), as to who we are in Christ, even the truth will not set us free. We must believe the truth for it to work. And what is the truth?
We ARE dead. Sin SHALL NOT have dominion over us. We are not in the flesh but in the Spirit and owe our flesh NOTHING. PERIOD.
Our testimony must be "We are DEAD to sin" We were never called to slowly try to die to sin in a process lasting years or decades. We are new NOW. Is there a process? Indeed yes! But it is not dying to sin. Paul tells us clearly that in the same way Jesus died to sin, we are to reckon it for ourselves. Paul then tells us HOW He died to sin. ONCE. So what is the process? Growing up into Him armed with our shield of faith as to who we are in Him! We too are to die to sin ONCE.
It is not growing from evil to good, but being made good, 100% good, we now let Him begin to grow fruits in us. It is HIS work, and all He asks is the we abide...rooted firly in Him, remaining and abiding by faith.
Now, practically, when a man or woman makes their stand of faith, can they sin? Indeed they can. Why? Can the promises fail? Can our God not be trusted? Ha! Our God CANNOT lie! So what is the problem? It is simply that our faith is weak. Our shield is still yet small and wavering. So what do we do? Shall we downgrade the promises as we have mistakenly done? May God forbid, for once we do, we are open to fall for our shield is, in essence, full of holes. It is back to "...Yes, but we are only human".
Did God not take into consideration our weakness when He made His promise to "cause us" to obey, to not allow us to be tempted above that which we are able to bear? Of course He did.
So, IF we fall, as John said, not WHEN, but IF, what do we do? Quit? Go back to trying harder? No! We repent, admit our real sin, unbelief, confess, and then? We immediately stand back up and put the armor back on that we are saints, not sinners and sin does NOT have dominion over us.
You see, satan cares not so much that we sin for he knows we can always get forgiven.
But what if a Christian finally discovers the pathway out of the rat race, the cycle of sinning and repenting? THAT Christian is a real threat for his joy over discovering the path to rest, to victory, to becoming an overcomer can inflame other believers with excitement over the truth.... and then the entire church can be awakened, and THAT terrifies him.
He will do anything, and I mean no holds barred ANYTHING, to pry those word of faith out of our mouths. Yes, we are weak, but that is the beauty of the new covenant. Weakness is an advantage not a drawback. It is:
"To them who have NO strength He increases might."
I pray this helps any who are hungry and struggling. Be blessed.
Gideon
My word to you is "Perfect! You are blessed!" Why? Because you KNOW you are failing. The spirit in you is leading you, teaching you. Are you perplexed as to how it can it be a good thing to be weak and a failure? Trust me, it can.
Here are my thoughts, and I can only point back to my "divine visitation" as to what God showed me over five years ago when I was bound by a life constricting porn addiction, masturbating six to seven times daily. It humbles me, shames me, to have to own up to what I was, and I am embarrassed, but it will show you the abundance of God's mercy and power. God has faithfully shown me that what He revealed to me works. What I share is true, that weakness is God's plan for us, yes, even a necessity, as we are shown how to overcome and defeat our enemy. Needless to say, in my bound situation, I was NOT free. I WAS the poster child for Romans 7, a wretched man wanting to be good, to be holy, but failing miserably.
When I finally was at the end of my rope in tears with no more theories to try, 38 years of fruitless attempts and failed methods as to how to control my flesh, I was ready to quit following the Lord. It was at y lowest, with all hope gone, that He appeeared to me. No face, no body, just blinding light and a voice like sweet thunder. At that point, I was broken, totally and completely and was ready to walk away, not because I did not think Him the Son of God, but because I was such a terrible witness, and longed to be free as He promised but was not able to walk it out in real life. To y faithless, despairing heart, He spoke these words:
"For this my son, I am well pleased with you."
Yeah, it made no sense to me either, It simply added confusion to my brokeness and put my on my face.
He continued:
"I knew all along that you could not walk the walk, but YOU did not know it."
Here is the lesson we do not get. It is the "hard part" of our lesson. We were never expected to obey. We were expected to try....and try....and fail....and fail.... and finally break before Him. Before you start boiling tar and plucking chickens, bear with me. We cannot obey, not as God desires, for we are saddled with an old nature, a nature that is in direct rebellion to God. It is our flesh, our fallen nature, and ALL of its righteousness is as filthy rags. That is why there is that battle inside us, a battle we always seem to be losing. Our flesh still has us prisoner.
The commandments to "Be ye holy" were there to break us, but instead of letting the law as the schoolmaster do its work in us and bring us to our knees, we have instead fallen into the trap and tried to ease the conviction by lowering the standard to "We are only human, so He expects us to just "try our best".
NO, brothers and sisters. The foundations of God are sure, and written on Heaven's gate, it is still written...
"Let everyone that nameth the name of the Lord depart from iniquity."
Do not be fooled. Forgiveness was never meant to eradicate the need for full obedience to the Spirit of God. NEVER. We are not forgiven and then told to TRY to be "good". God tells us "Be ye holy, for I am holy."
Do not fear or hang your head in discouragement over this. Our God's goodness is BETTER and STRONGER than our badness! Praise God! He has left us with no options except to fail. That is His plan, for only when we are totally broken of ALL self confidence are we finally prepared to do the ONE thing we can do to walk in obedience. ONLY BELIEVE. Believe that Christ IN US can indeed walk out the victory in this life.
Oh that we might finally see! We CANNOT be holy. We CANNOT be good. They that are in the flesh CANNOT please God. In us dwells NO GOOD THING.
Back to my "education" God granted me at the lowest point of my life. As He took away the scales of mis-understanding and unbelief from my eyes. 38 years of stubborn pride-filled self-effort melted into a puddle like wax hit by a blowtorch. He then asked me this question.
"In all of your trying, did you ever do what I told you to do through my servant Paul in Romans 6?"
Have you ever reckoned yourself DEAD to sin and alive unto Me?"
Look. I have fasted for up to 21 days, I memorized large parts of scripture. I went to church three times a week for YEARS. But never had I done what we were all plainly and clearly told to do. Finally I had the answer I so longed for. What did I do? I did not even hesitate. I spoke, out loud, LOUDLY out loud, for God and satan and most importantly for my own spirit to hear. I spoke truth...truth that sets free.
"I am dead. When Christ died, my old man died. I am a new creature and old things have passed away. Sin shall NOT have dominion over me. I owe the flesh NOTHING. I am now light in the Lord, and it is because this is true, that I am now empowered to walk as a child of light."
I cannot even describe what happened next. Deep down, a seed of faith that God had planted in me 38 years previously, small and shriveled, but still a viable seed, sprouted to life. My faith was now alive, weak, but alive. I had finally fully entered "the good fight of faith" and God's plan for me now was to "become established in that faith".
Do you remember what we are told in Revelations 19, that in the last days the saints overcame the enemy by "the blood of the lamb AND the words of their testimony"?
We as His children have thought the blood of the lamb is all we need, but until we combine it in faith with our testimony (and OUT LOUD is best to make sure it is "documented" in our spirits), as to who we are in Christ, even the truth will not set us free. We must believe the truth for it to work. And what is the truth?
We ARE dead. Sin SHALL NOT have dominion over us. We are not in the flesh but in the Spirit and owe our flesh NOTHING. PERIOD.
Our testimony must be "We are DEAD to sin" We were never called to slowly try to die to sin in a process lasting years or decades. We are new NOW. Is there a process? Indeed yes! But it is not dying to sin. Paul tells us clearly that in the same way Jesus died to sin, we are to reckon it for ourselves. Paul then tells us HOW He died to sin. ONCE. So what is the process? Growing up into Him armed with our shield of faith as to who we are in Him! We too are to die to sin ONCE.
It is not growing from evil to good, but being made good, 100% good, we now let Him begin to grow fruits in us. It is HIS work, and all He asks is the we abide...rooted firly in Him, remaining and abiding by faith.
Now, practically, when a man or woman makes their stand of faith, can they sin? Indeed they can. Why? Can the promises fail? Can our God not be trusted? Ha! Our God CANNOT lie! So what is the problem? It is simply that our faith is weak. Our shield is still yet small and wavering. So what do we do? Shall we downgrade the promises as we have mistakenly done? May God forbid, for once we do, we are open to fall for our shield is, in essence, full of holes. It is back to "...Yes, but we are only human".
Did God not take into consideration our weakness when He made His promise to "cause us" to obey, to not allow us to be tempted above that which we are able to bear? Of course He did.
So, IF we fall, as John said, not WHEN, but IF, what do we do? Quit? Go back to trying harder? No! We repent, admit our real sin, unbelief, confess, and then? We immediately stand back up and put the armor back on that we are saints, not sinners and sin does NOT have dominion over us.
You see, satan cares not so much that we sin for he knows we can always get forgiven.
But what if a Christian finally discovers the pathway out of the rat race, the cycle of sinning and repenting? THAT Christian is a real threat for his joy over discovering the path to rest, to victory, to becoming an overcomer can inflame other believers with excitement over the truth.... and then the entire church can be awakened, and THAT terrifies him.
He will do anything, and I mean no holds barred ANYTHING, to pry those word of faith out of our mouths. Yes, we are weak, but that is the beauty of the new covenant. Weakness is an advantage not a drawback. It is:
"To them who have NO strength He increases might."
I pray this helps any who are hungry and struggling. Be blessed.
Gideon