I always want to encourage people with the absolute truth about everything that Gods love means to us. Therefore, I don't ever want to encourage anyone simply with a bunch of false hope just to try to make one feel better, but with the ABSOLUTE TRUTH of His encouraging love letter to each of us. Knowing His Word and receiving it for ourselves personally is what sets us free, because Jesus tells us that knowing the Truth (Jesus) truly does set us free (John 8:32). I know that many Christians have some sort of bad habits in one way or another. I want to encourage you to continue to be persistent in repenting before God, persevere to continue to receive His forgiveness and that "giving-up" ever doing this is NOT an option. I am encouraged that when I read the love chapter of 1 Cor 13:4-8, that God tells us in one of the verses that Love (God Himself) never remembers the wrong we have done (end of vs 5) and Love always believes the very best for us....regardless (vs 7).
When one would confess that they are addicted to a bad habit, I would like to encourage you to not think of it as God forgiving you for the millionth time, even if that is the case. When God Himself says that He forgives are sins when we repent, He always goes farther then we would by forgetting our past sins because He does not keep a record. If He did, this would go below Gods standard to forgive our trespasses. So, if He chooses to totally forgive and forget, we may have a hard time to do either of that. But I want to encourage you that God is not keeping a record of how many times you have sinned because He has chosen to forget our sins and wipe out our sins when we do repent. So when you think that God has forgiven you over 10,000 times for the same sin, think of it as the first time you have sinned this because God has chosen to forget our past sins and so should we. The Apostle Paul himself stated in Rom 7:15-25, he mentions about having habitual sins in his life that he is bewildered about. He continues to tell us that when we do sin (for the Christians), it is NOT within our nature because God has given us a new nature (2 Cor 5:17), but is the sin principle warring in our flesh (vs 17). This doesn't mean that we should go on sinning, but when we do sin that does go against our new nature, God helps us by convicting us. Therefore, we should consider the Spirit of Conviction as our friend indeed, because His Spirit is always there to help us when we desperately need it. I find that when we are convicted by God and we feel bad for a short time, that is a good sign that this is an indication that we remain sensitive to Him and what He encourages us to do is Repent, forgive ourselves and continue to confess our need of Him to help us in our time of need in order to be cleansed. The last thing God wants us to do is feel condemned which does nothing but discourages us and we give more power to the enemy (satan) who is the one who is considered the accuser (Rev 12:10). We give the enemy more power to the portion when we start to doubt Gods Word for us, His love for us and believing the lies of the enemy who speaks against His Word. Even though the enemy lies, his lies become a powerful deceptive truth when we choose to believe his lies which makes many people a slave to him who is nothing but a deceiver.
An accuser is someone who brings up the past after you have repented when God Himself has forgiven you. Accusations always brings condemnation which does not come from God. Towards the end when the Apostle Paul is wrestling between the flesh warring against the Spirit, he puts a question like we would normally do "Who will deliver me from this body of death" (vs 24)? For those who have not invited Christ to be their Lord and Saviour, the answers they would ever have would always be without hope, because without Christ as our Lord and Saviour, there is no hope. But the Hope we have when Paul tells us in the following verse that "Oh, thank God...He will, through Jesus Christ the Anointed One". Paul remained encouraged by having that steadfast Hope when he chose to give Him thanks first while at the same time, knowing that through Christ, He will deliver us when we refuse to give up. I want to encourage you that when you feel discouraged, refuse to accept this because the enemy tells lies to accuse us when we need to remember God has dealt with our sins when we do repent. When we are convicted, that is encouraging in one sense because that tells us that we (by our new nature in Christ) hates committing sins and God is encouraging us to be persistent to repent, receive His cleansing, His pardon, His forgiveness and confess by His Grace that you are trusting in Him and declaring His promise that He has come to set His captives free (Ps 146:7).
When Peter asked Jesus how many times do we need to forgive (Matt 18:21)? Peter expected that seven was being generous, but it fell far short of how many times Jesus tells us to forgive (seventy times seven) vs 22. This doesn't mean that the 491st time someone sins against you, that you don't have to forgive. But is an illustration to habitually and purposefully forgive no matter how many times people may sin against you with the same sins. Just like God chooses to always forgive us when we have asked for His forgiveness after we have sinned against Him with possibly the same sins over and over. This doesn't encourage anyone to be able to live a sloppy life to sin and know that we should ever take His Grace for granted. Paul in Rom 6:1,2 tells us that just because we (Children of God) who are under His Grace does not give us the license to sin. But at the same time, I want to encourage you to repent as quick as you can when you do feel convicted and receive His forgiveness no matter how many times you have fallen in to sin. Refuse to allow your sins to be greater than Gods Grace to forgive you of your sins! When we fail to receive His forgiveness by remaining to feel guilty, then it is just like refusing to ask for forgiveness. His forgiveness cannot benefit you unless you learn to receive His forgiveness. Just like the other message I mentioned about not allowing Christ to cleanse us, that we would not be able to have fellowship with Him (John 13:8). I believe the following two areas we need to purposefully guard ourselves against:
a. Not accepting Gods full pardon and forgiveness for us when we come to Him and repent; and
b. Refusing to repent when we sense His conviction upon us which is to encourage us to get right with Him.
When people refuse to repent when convicted by God, I believe this is a beginning when our consciences start becoming seared and when this happens more and more, people come to the place where they no longer are sensitive to the Spirit. This is when we should be very concerned. In John 14:26 (Amplified Version), the Spirit (who is considered our Helper, our Comforter, our Intercessor, our Advocate, our Strengthener and our Standby) is the One who perfectly represents all of these characteristics. Why would anyone not want His loving help? He is always faithful to do His part, but we have a part by believing and receiving this for us in order to make it work. We can never undo the past, but always be encouraged to repent when you sense He lovingly convicts you, receive the truth that He does forgive (by refusing to remember our past sins no more) and be encouraged like Paul says that Jesus Christ the Anointed One will deliver you (Rom 7:25). Refuse to give up repenting, refuse to ever deny His perfect love for you, His Help, His cleansing power for you. He tells us when we have learned to be forgiven much because we have received His forgiveness much, we will be able to love much (Luke 7:47). When we learn to love much, that is the most powerful weapon we can use against our enemy and the greatest blessing we can inherit from the One who truly does love us.
Will you consider buying my books in support of HelpingCopeThroughHope mission work in Zambia? You may go to my link below to observe.
In the Matchless Name of Jesus
Richard
Associate Director
Answers2Prayerhttp://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife
http://www.answers2prayer.org/
www.helpingcopewithhope.blogspot.com
What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? (Rom 8:31)
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