Striving Against Sin...

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord, him who has clean hands. Have we resisted temptation unto the shedding of blood? Christian, posted this in a thread on revival and I thought I would share an experience I had recently. I was being tempted by the powers of darkness and entertained a thought in my mind, and I thought to myself why am I being tempted in such a strong way, I can't bear this! then I heard a voice say 'you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood' sadly I still wasn't 100% victorious over those thoughts but I have not been able to get out of my mind those words in the past 24 hours. How much do we strive against sin, count it as something odious before the Lord's presence? WE give so much effort towards things that really don't matter eternally, how much do we seek holiness in the Lord Jesus?Hebrews 12:4 (niv) - In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

Awsome! We all know the struggles of temptation but to have the gift of having a verse at hand(in our mind) is wonderful warfare!I don't know what your struggle was but here is one of mine: don't laugh!Yesterday I was very careful with my eating so that I would be able to have some of my son’s birthday cake after dinner. It was really good, I might add! In the middle of the night I woke up to a terrible craving for more of that cake! I knew it was just sitting on the counter waiting for me to get a fork and take a bite (and then probably more bites). My flesh really wanted that cake but my spirit said “no”. I was like, “Lord, help me fight this craving”. Right away this verse came to me and I had to repeat it several times during the course of the night: “But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest when I preach to others, I myself should become disqualified.” 1 Cor.9:27 I honestly had to fight it all night with this verse. It did not take the temptation away but it gave me the strength to fight it. I also thought about how I would feel more tired in the morning and it would be harder to get myself on the treadmill. I have found that fighting the flesh is harder than spiritual warfare against the enemy. The enemy and I already know that he is defeated. But the flesh, on the other hand...we just have to keep crucifying it a little at a time. But I will press on toward the prize, as Paul says. ~Chanin