Battling Sin

Monday, February 23, 2009 11:04 AM

"If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it"

Genesis 4:7 (New King James Version)

How many of us battle against sin ? We all want to be more like Christ... We want to be pure and Holy.... But how much effort do we put in to pray and overcome ?

The first portion of the verse says "If you do well, will you not be accepted?" We need to give our first to the Lord.. We need to give our best to the Lord. Its not just our tithes, but our entire being itself. If at the end of the day when we are totally tired we read the Bible and say our prayers we will still be blessed. But there is a special blessing in giving our first to the Lord.... When we say "Lord the first part of my day is dedicated to you and then only everything else".

We need to have our lives tuned such that no worldly desire stands first above God's desire. It could be the language that we use , it could be sinful habits , it could be the love of money, .... If any desire causes us to fall into sin we need to ensure that anything leading to that should be cut off immediately. If the internet causes us to sin and temptation then just disconnect the net !! Thats a better option than living an eternity in hell.If anything prevents us from giving our best to the Lord then we need to make sure we get our priorities straight.

Someone once asked me if smoking occasionally and social drinking is wrong ... I remember the Lord showed me this in a dream... I saw a bottle of alcohol on a shelf and a Bible right beside that and I kept thinking "who would keep the word of God next to a bottle of alcohol ? " and then the Lord said..."The Body is the temple of the Holy Spirit..If you cannot stand to see the Bible even next to the bottle how do you even think that I would be ok with seeing my temple-your body filled with it ? "

I woke up knowing for sure there is not a polite socially acceptable answer to this...Only a straightforward one "NO its not ok !"

Now we need to remember that corrupt thoughts, impure thoughts , sinful desires also equally defile the temple of God. This body is not ours... Jesus Christ paid the price and ransomed us by His blood. He died for us that we might live !

This is such a wonderful verse with such a strong truth in it. If we do not give God our First and our Best , then we are more susceptible to sin !! Sin is just waiting at the door and with the slightest opening its going to jump and grab us ! The desire of sin is to bring us down. Nothing good can ever come from anything that is not of God and God's will.

But here is the good news...The word of God says "You should rule over it !!" The Lord has given us the strength to overcome sin ! He has given us the strength to rule over it. Are we willing to use the strength that God has given us to overcome sin ? Remember if its not of God then its of the evil one ! There is nothing inbetween ! It can even be just laziness thats keeping us from reading the word of God... Overcome that laziness

I pray this morning that all of us overcome the sins that we are battling by the grace of God and we rise up today as victors ruling over sin !

God Bless