Prayer To Resist/Withstand Sin

Today I realize the fullness of my desperation for God and the hopelessness I feel when I let thought of sin consume me. I am starting to understand why the bible tells us to pray continuously without ceasing. In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, it tells us, “Never stop praying”, moreover in the book of Ephesians when Paul is writing to the church in Ephesus, telling them about the Armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-17), “Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere” (Ephesians 6:18). From my understanding, I do not believe it’s a coincidence that God tells us to pray continuously when He is explaining what our spiritual armor is. There is an ongoing and continual battle going on against our worldly desires and our souls, as described in 1 Peter 2:11, “Dear friends, I warn you as ‘temporary residents and foreigners’ to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls.”

We, as followers of Christ, need to be urgently praying for the forgiveness of sin and to resist and withstand temptation. I pray for you all to come to the understanding that we are susceptible and prone to sin. It is truly by God’s grace that we have an open communication with Him through prayer and His word. God deliberately design it this way, so that we would have to be fully depend on Him for strength and stability with our fights against our sinful nature.

Be encouraged that there is a God who only wants what’s best for you, and usually that means becoming more like Christ. The more we pursue Christ likeness, it will become easier to withstand sin and temptation. You can find everything you need in His word - plain and simply put.

Blessings,

Jamison

The Christ and The Cross

My thoughts on Christ and the cross have changed drastically in the past months. For the first time I’ve opened my bible and literally read it, not just because I felt obligated to do so, but because I realized I am a man completely lost without it.

In the story of the Temptation of Jesus, Jesus is tempted by Satan to turn stones into loaves of bread for him to eat (Jesus is fasting for 40 days and 40 nights). Jesus’ reply:

“No, The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matt. 4:3-4)

Jesus is quoting scripture from book of Deuteronomy:

“Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” (Deut. 8:3)

Jesus is showing and teaching us first hand that the word of God is even more essential to life and our well-being than food is. I’ve noticed in my life on the days and sometimes weeks that I go without feeding myself spiritually on a daily basis, I’m prone to fall into a sinful pattern. The bible teaches us that we’re sinful from the start of our lives, as we see this in Psalm 51 and Mark 7:

“For I was born a sinner — yes, from the moment my mother conceived me. But you desire honesty from the womb, teaching me wisdom even there.” (Ps. 51:5-6)

He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.'" (Mark 7:20-23)

Even though God knows that we are from the moment of conception sinful and unclean people, He tells us to sin no more and turn to Him. Now believe me, one of the main themes of the cross is love and grace, but we need that. For the bible tells us:

“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”

(Romans 3:23)

As we continue reading in Romans 3, we see that though we’re sinful and don’t deserve God’s love and grace, He gave it to us through the sacrifice of His son, Jesus:

“Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.” (Romans 3:24-26)

Our need for the cross is everything; it starts there and ends there. Our sins are forgive because of the sacrifice of God’s only son. It was because of the blood shed from Jesus that we are now saved. Now that we have this amazing grace and gift of salvation, God calls us to sin no more, not because He doesn’t want us to have enjoyment, because sin is mostly fulfilling in the moment, but it’s quite the opposite. God want us to be fulfilled in Him, because He is the only thing that will completely satisfy us. In John 1 it says:

“In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)

From this passage, we learn that God is the word, Jesus is the word, Jesus is God. Confused? I am. In all seriousness though, if we need God to stay on the straight path of purity from sin, we are in desperate need from His word, because He is the Word.

We have a great need in our lives and God have given us the food for spiritual hunger. With that said, I urge you to live your life through the message of bible and the Gospel. I have been encouraged writing this, because I need this just as much if not more than you. Even the Apostle Paul, who was one of the greatest believers and established the church, said this:

“This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners’—and I am the worst of them all.” (1 Timothy 1:15)

Even the Apostle Paul understood that he was a sinner in need of God's grace, even though he did great things in His name. I hope this encourages you. I hope this finds you inspired and motivated to find God and freedom from sin through the power of the cross.

Only because he loved us first,

Jamison