Constant Sinning

Dear Richardf,

Be weary of self-righteousness. Are you trying to overcome this sin for your own self, to make yourself feel righteous or be righteous? Or are you attempting to overcome this sin because Christ has commanded it in your life? Has He personally convicted you of this sin?

If you are doing it by your own will, you will fail. Your power is nothing. You cannot succeed. You will try and try and continue to fail. You may even reach a point where you stop accepting God's forgivness, or even worse, the Devil may fill you with thoughts that say, "Am I even saved? How could I possibly sin like this and be saved?"

Firstly, you must realize that Christ has already delivered you from all sin. It's gone. It's done. The cross is final. You have been pardoned. You have God's grace. Eat this. Breath this. Accept this. Live this. You are forgiven. A person who truly knows forgiveness doesn't ask for it, instead, they say "Thank you." Thank you Jesus for dying for me!!! Thank you for saving me!!!

Obviously, if you have truly accepted forgiveness, you also have a desire to turn away from all sin. You want to stop sinning. You don't like sin. It bothers you. It goes against the Spirit inside of you. If inside you are truly a new person, then sin has no place in you.

However, you are not yet complete. You still fight against the Devil, temptation, and the flesh. We all are still awaiting that glorious day of Christ's return where we will be changed in the twinkling of an eye.

So what about this current sin that has you cornered?

Firstly, stop focusing on yourself. Stop looking at your own sin. Look at Christ. Turn your view toward Him. Follow Him. Everytime you worry about your sin, the sin you were supposed to have given Christ upon your baptism, you are looking back at an old life, an old way. Look toward heaven and keep your thoughts focused Him.

Secondly, abandon yourself to Christ. Take up your cross. This doesn't mean that you conquer sin by your own power. This doesn't mean that Richard becomes a superhero. You are weak. You have always been weak. You will always be weak. It means, you fall down on your hands and knees pleading with Christ to take over. Give yourself to Him. Give your sin to Him. Ask Him to take it and deliever you. Be persistent. Do not give up hope until the work in you has been complete. It may not happen instantly. God may have to work slowly in you. It may take months or even years. However, do this daily.

In John 6:48, Jesus is quoted as saying, "I am the bread of life." And in the model prayer Jesus says, "Give us this day our daily bread."

Do you do this? Do you pray every day that Jesus will come into you? Do you ask for you daily portion of the life in Christ?

In Luke 9:23, Jesus is quoted as saying, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me."

We are to take up our cross "daily." The work of Christ in our life is a continual process of being renewed. We need Jesus everyday, every minute of every day. We need Him.

Many Christians are under a strange impression that once we are saved, God takes away our sin and then sends us on our way.

The entire death of Christ was to clean us of our sin, not so that we can be righteous, but that we can be one with Him. The real sin of a Christian is not the act of sinning, it is the act of denying Christ. We need to keep and maintain our union with Christ. He needs to be our daily bread. We eat three meals a day. We should pray no less.

The only way to glorify God is by allowing Christ to work in you. We are to reflect God's glory, not be God's glory. We are supposed to be like the moon that reflects the light of the sun. The moon doesn't make light. Instead, it is only beautiful when the sun hits it. Without the sun, the moon is a big ball of dust.

We should be the same. Everytime we try to generate light by our own power, we are just a big ball of dust. Everytime God works in us, everytime His light illuminates us, we shine. Let your light shine by allowing Jesus to enter in. Once He fills you, then you will have glorified God. Do not worry about your dust, God could make the stones cry out, but instead, He has chosen you!!!

In love,
Blake

I am posting some sage advice from Watchman Nee on this subject from his book "The Life That Wins" which has been reprinted with the title "The Overcoming Life". Basically, he is saying that the first step in overcoming sin is realizing and admitting that YOU in yourself can't stop sinning. Only Christ in you can bring you victory. But you must surrender or yield first. Hope this helps.

When I was first saved, I heard a story about a little girl who in her testimony revealed the extent to which she truly understood this matter of victory. During the Keswick Convention, someone asked the little girl, “How do you overcome when you are tempted?” “Formerly, whenever the devil came knocking at my door,” she reported, “I would immediately say, ‘Don’t you come in, don’t you come in!’ But this always ended up in defeat. Now, though, whenever the devil knocks at the door, I at once say to the Lord: ‘Lord, You open the door.’ The Lord goes forward to do so. And as soon as the devil sees the Lord, the devil says: ‘I am sorry, I have knocked at the wrong door.’ And with that he turns and flees.”
In the course of our being tempted, if we cry out, “O Lord, here comes temptation; O Lord, save me, save me,” the devil will come in before the door is even opened. Today, leave it to the Lord to deal with the devil. The longer, the more anxious and more repetitious the prayer, the firmer is the holding on of our hands. One brother
reminded us that when Peter was sinking, he merely cried out, “Lord, save me.” Just ask simply in one sentence, and this will indicate you are taking your hands off. If you continue to cry out, saying “O Lord, save me,” repeating it many times, you are already defeated. I call such prayer “hanging-on prayer.” The more you pray such prayer, the more it proves you have not let go, but are hanging on to the situation. You try to use prayer to attain victory; you are still thinking of using your own strength to gain the triumph. As a consequence you will not have victory. Stop crying, and you will come into victory. Do remember that Satan wants you to be stirred up, even if you are bestirred to pray.
Previously, you would burn when you heard any pricking words. What would you do today if someone were to pick on you incessantly? If you were to say to the Lord, “O Lord, this is not my business; victory is Your business; I confess I cannot control my temper; but Lord, You are responsible,” this would be called letting go. And the Lord would live out His patience through you. You could praise and thank God and say, “Lord, I could not care less.” But suppose you felt you could no longer bear the provocation, and you pray, “O Lord, save me, for I am quickly losing my control.” Fifteen minutes would pass like fifteen hours. Now although you would not explode outwardly, you would nonetheless be burning already within. And this would show you have not overcome. Satan does not seek for an explosion of your temper; he merely wants you to be agitated. And thus will he win.
Victory is when you are not stirred up to do. Victory means you pay no attention; it means you could not care less. Your calmness, aloofness and carelessness are rightfully called a letting go. Victory does not depend upon you, since you have already died. Instead, it is Christ who gains the victory for you. You have died and Christ lives—and this is called victory.

Hi Richard,

Think Greg's clip there is helpful, might give the whole thread on [url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?viewmode=flat&order=0&topic_id=12137&forum=34&post_id=&refresh=Go]Understanding Mortification[/url] a slow reading.

There is something telling in your words here that I think might be worth encouarging;

... and also that I will allow Him to ...

There is a 'both' in this walk, things for us to do ourselves in cooperation with the Holy Spirit.
The one that has come home of late at least in thought but needs still constant diligence in practice is;

[i]humble thyself[/i]

My job, our job. Sheer will power can accomplish it I am sure, but what brews underneath when it is done alone? When we do not [i]feel[/i] like it?
It ends up being the form and not the substance.

That might be a bit off toward your pleas here but just by way of example. I am finding a great agreement from a variety of sources repeating themselves, that God will not do the things He has commanded [i]us[/i] to do. The incredible thing is He will help us to do them ... A better prayer may be to ask the Lord to teach us how to suffer for His name sake, it may well put our own sins and suffering for them into a whole different perspective.

1Pe 2:20 [i]For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.[/i]

Without equivocating one way or the other, there must come a point where the confessing is confessed and the next difficult thing is to accept forgiveness. It's difficult to the soul that knows the pain it has caused and the sense of 'clearing' may not be automatic, but it must be grasped and with a new resolve to leave the former things behind and move forward. If anything, pray the Lord leaves an indelible mark on your soul not to repeat it, to remember the pain caused, the sense of detachment, the grieving of the Holy Spirit, the next time the temptation comes, for it will come again and those memories will keep you from allowing yourself to repeat them again.

Pray the Lord will cause us all to come to an end of ourselves.