Proverbs 4:10-14
Hear, my son, and receive my sayings, And the years of your life will be many. I have taught you in the way of wisdom; I have led you in the right paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hindered, and when you run, you will not stumble. Take firm hold of instruction; do not let go; Keep her, for she is your life. Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of evil. (What a gift it is to be able to walk with such confidence!)
Proverbs 4:23-27
Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life. Put away from you a deceitful mouth, And put perverse lips far from you. Let your eyes look straight ahead, And your eyelids look right before you. Ponder the path of your feet, And let all your ways be established. Do not turn to the right or the left; Remove your foot from evil( the how too of this confidence).
Statistics say that pornography in the church almost equals the amount seen in the nonchurch, which is terrible. Porn is a huge stumbling block that is rarely talked about in Christian circles. It affects the members and the leadership. It’s interesting that porn comes from the root word for wickedness. Porn is pervasive in our culture, and it is accepted as normal activity. Just like all the vices of our flesh, we tend to normalize them; “everybody else is doing it.” However, we have a huge problem with that; God’s Word and God do not normalize any sin, least of all porn, a destructive force that tears apart families and reduces men and women to objects, stains and profanes the intimacy God created to be shared only between a husband and wife, and it profanes the Temple of Christ in us.
Yet, in whatever form sin comes in, sin is sin. Whether it is “small sins or big sins.” All sin separates us from our Lord. Yet certain sins are more addicting, damaging, and damning to the human soul. They lay a far deadlier and deeper trap, porn being one of them. Along with drinking and drugs, these sins can reduce the human soul to a shell of a person (I have personally seen men and women as such). What was once considered “freedom, it’s my choice” becomes a trap, enslavement, bondage, and apart from Christ, it is unbreakable. Chains and fretters around a soul that was made in God’s image and for God.
Only with the cleansing power of Christ can it be broken. If this is you, while you still have fight left in you, fight these deadly addicting sins. Meditating upon God’s Word, specific verses that address these sins, and being in fellowship with men or women (men with men, women with women) who are strong in their Faith, these strongholds can and will be beaten (for sexual sin read Proverbs 5,6,&7, & 1 Corinthians 3:16&17) they are key.
Put these verses on your bathroom mirror, in your phone, and tape them to the dashboard of your car. This is similar to what God commanded the Jews to have tassels hanging from their clothing to remind them of God’s Word.
Joshua 1:7-8 (Freedom starts here)
Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses, My servant, commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
Satan messes with our identity; he wants us to feel like losers, that he has us, or that we don’t need “religion.” Yet emptiness, feeling defeated and insecure (scared), or feeling inferior are not good emotions, and these emotions belong to him. He ( satan) also wants us to feel that there is no sense in trying, no hope. These are all lies, and Jesus called him the father of lies and that there is no truth in him (John 8:44). Jesus went to the Cross to free us from the power of sin, and as we apply His Words, we find freedom.
What would have happened if Christ had not finished His course but said, “Father this is too hard, I can’t do it,” having the same attitude we are tempted to have? We would all be damned. Instead, He finished his course so we could have victory and eternal life! So be a little nasty and tell the devil to go to hell and stay there! And remind him of this verse.
2 Corinthians 5:17-18
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed ( passing) away; behold, the new has come( and continually grows stronger as we seek Him). All this is from God, who through Christ ( obedience) reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation ( there is nothing stronger than the blood of Christ coupled with His Word that forgives, saves, and changes broken sinners).
Hebrews 12: 3&4
For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners ( the Pharisees and Sadducees) against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted bloodshed, striving against sin.
By Christ’s Glorious work on the Cross, the internal workings of the Holy Spirit, and a purposeful and consistent meditation on God’s Word (both specific verses that deal with our vices and general, page-by-page reading), we can and will become free of whatever vices that hold us.
It takes earnest effort; we have to become good sponges. You might say this is too hard, but what are the alternatives? Drugs, pills, depression, loss of hope, multiple divorces, kids on drugs and or suicidal thoughts, or early pregnancy are not suitable alternatives. Instead of living life as slaves to our sins, Christ brings hope and life back into our souls. We just need to give The Carpenter the materials He needs to build His Temple in us. Isn’t this a much better alternative?
The power of the Cross via accepting Christ is the forgiveness of our sins, which then ushers in the Holy Spirit and, when coupled with His Word, begins to break the chains that bind us and seek to control us. The Word empowered by the Holy Spirit will give us our victories, and by humbling ourselves and being accountable to our brothers or sisters, the victory will come. He will tear down the invincible walls for us, and in time, we become undefeatable. From hopelessness to full of hope!
Do you believe me? Faith or belief is the key to the engine of the Spirit; putting the key in the ignition is Faith in action or obedience, and movement is setting aside a daily devotional time with Him.
Romans 10:17
So then Faith comes by hearing and hearing( or reading) the Word of God.
So, if you spend 30 minutes of your personal time answering your emails, 1 hour on Facebook or Twitter, and only 20 minutes daily in the scriptures, guess who will win? Every day, we feed our carnal man, and many of us starve our spirit man. Reverse that; it’s evident that the activities we spend the most time with will influence us the most. We must make purposeful decisions to spend more time in the Word if we are to be “more than conquerors (Romans 8:31-39, a very goodread).
Romans 8:5-9
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can it be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His (this is where religion fails; it gives you a false hope that you are right with God when you are not; read John 3:1-21).
1 John 4:4
Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
*Consistency is what most Christians lack. We NEED consistent Bible study and prayer time. However, we do not want to make Bible study legalistic; that’s the wrong heart, and no beneficial change will result. The right heart is to acknowledge our need for Him; we are empty apart from Him. All the world is searching for His love and peace and in all the wrong places, and we have it right here. Read the Word from that perspective, and you will grow.
Those of us who say we have no time to read know that we make time for what is important to us. We are able to keep doctor appointments, school activities, dates, etc. Keeping time with the Lord on a daily basis is the most important appointment we have, period. No meeting on our schedule is more important!
If we truly have no time to fit in a twenty-minute to half-hour Bible study, then we need to lose an activity or delegate the activity to someone else. Ask Him to help you with your schedule, and as you take a step of Faith by making time for Him, watch Him help you get more done. Remember, if being busy is our excuse not to spend time with Him, then satan will make sure we are always busy. Being busy is an ego booster; it makes us feel important. Check your motives, yet know the importance we feel from being busy or needed is but “fool’s gold” compared to sensing God’s love and approval over your life; that is the Real Gold.
1 Peter 1:22-23
Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the Word of God which lives and abides forever,
Know that if we do not change our allegiance to the Lord, then we ourselves send ourselves to a place that was never intended for man. Long ago, Bob Dylan sang the song “You Got to Serve Somebody,” a secular song but very accurate. God made us and designed us to be filled with His Holy Spirit. That’s how Adam and Eve started life with God. That’s our design, so if God does not indwell us, then emptiness is what we have. Since our youth, we instinctively seek to fill it with achievements, goals, money, vices, friends or people, etc., yet our emptiness returns. We become servants to our passions, our insecurities, and or fears. We are not free because of it. We are serving somebody or something.
1 Peter 1:14-15
as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
Only by the Holy Spirit working in us and cleansing us can we be Holy…. outside of Divine intervention, the best we could be is good, but being good is not our calling; sanctified, holy, and redeemed is.
Psalms 51:7-13 ( a great prayer of repentance).
Purge me with hyssop( a plant used in ceremonial cleansing), and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken(God’s conviction) may rejoice.
Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You.
Father,
Thank you for this personal and convicting study. We all have ground in us that, by rights, belongs to You. Help us to surrender those parts of us over to You. Open our eyes and let us see how much you love us, and by surrendering, we are gaining; we are not losing. Make us willing to fight for our life with You. As You gave it all to forgive and love us, let us be willing to give to You our allegiance. Let us invest our time and energy wisely. Let us care about what we do with our money, time, and talents. This world is temporal, but our soul is Eternal. Let’s invest wisely, say no to our carnal desires, and put You first. Amen.
Lastly, there is only one irreversible and eternal decision: the rejection of Christ at death. Many times, death comes suddenly, and there is no time for reflection or repentance, so if you are reading this now and are not a believer, consider this God’s love for you and seriously consider your future and your life right now. Do you have peace? Are you content, or are you empty and searching? Emotions are not always wise to gauge your eternity on, but they are indicators. Just like lights on the instrument panel of our cars that tell us something is not right under the hood, your emotions of restlessness, emptiness, and no peace are the same. Things are not right under the hood. You are of great value to Him; that is why He paid so much for you. If you still doubt, read deathbed comments from well-known atheists; that should make you think.
Saved by Grace,
Arthur