BORN AGAIN........Yet Struggling with sin, Try these keys!



Happy New Year!


Introduction:

The Lord loves the righteous, that He surrounds him with favour and protection.  It's not only the righteous, but everyone who is on the Lord's side knows His presence, and they will flourish like the Palm Tree by the riverside this year. In 2020, you will be found on the Lord's side and your success shall be visible.

God has remained faithful to His word and promises for generations, but, many of us are still overwhelmed with the challenges of life, that we do not know the Lord deeply after many years of being in the Lord.  Many do not know how to resist temptation, and many are not bold enough to tell the devil to go to hell, because of little foxes called sin.  Sin like telling lies, gossip, anger, and bitterness can reduce a good Christian to an unbeliever. Lack of deep knowledge of the ways of God is causing believers to struggle with a lot of issues.

In the things of God, we need to be prepared to receive from God and to follow Jesus Christ.  If you are not well prepared, though you are born again and waiting for the coming of Christ, you may miss Him.  This is what happened to the foolish virgins, who missed the Bride Groom, though they were qualified to go with the Bride.

We face trials and temptations every day, but in addition, there is the inner 'urge' to do things that are not right, to steal, lie, commit adultery and fornication and other things a child of God should not do. If you're not armed with the tools to overcome the 'urge' or pressure to do evil, you will find yourself yielding to it every other time, instead of resisting them, and things could get messed up before your face.  Anyone, who has compromised his faith before, saying 'God will understand' or saying that he or she will repent later.  Such a person must confess such sin openly and put the devil to shame, otherwise, the temptation to do the same thing will be coming every other time, and the devil will continue to tempt people in their individual areas of weakness.

Minor Keys, Mighty Relief
Whatever sin a person was committing before he met Christ, such a sin should be openly confessed, so the devil will know there is no secret sin in your life. But, if you repent without openly confessing sins like patronizing Prostitutes, Watching porno videos and masturbation.  Know for sure that you are harbouring secret sin, and one day the devil will stir you to return to that sin, especially, if the opportunity opens up.  

Take the case of a young lady struggling with poverty and who had to do some odd things to survive...who one day saw her 'Pastor' approaching her for business in the night.  She was shocked by her 'Pastor' patronising prostitutes and after some thought decided to serve him!

What happened?  It is likely the Pastor did not openly confess that sin to his wife or his father in the Lord, though he has repented.  But on that day, the devil would have stirred him to get some entertainment for himself, not knowing he would be meeting with his church member.  Open Confession of such sin is the way out of them.  No matter how shameful, it is to confess them, you must confess it if you will be delivered from it.

There are no minor temptations, it's just a matter of time, that minor and easy-to-overcome temptations will become too enticing to resist. The urge for things of pleasure is usually very strong because the old nature and the flesh loves pleasure and that is why many believers keep their body under check through fasting and praying regularly.

We sin only when we give in to temptation. The issue of having the urge to lie, smoke, fornicate or watch pornography after repenting of your sin and confessing Jesus Christ as Lord is a serious matter that makes believers look like unbelievers.  We should resist 'urge' with our last blood as the bible said, else a believer of many years could crumble within a second as they come into your heart.  Don't meditate on them.  Rebuke the thought and cast it out of your heart in Jesus Christ's name. We should diligently guide our eyes, the things we see or watch, our ears and the News and stories we hear and most importantly, our hearts.  Believers should be ready to cast out wrong thoughts 

Noise-making Evangelist

Take the case of an Evangelist who preached a mighty message and won souls where he was invited to minister, only for the devil to detail a pretty woman after him in the very house where he was to pass the night. The woman behaved carelessly, exposing her nakedness to the Evangelist, who could not resist the temptation. He fell to the woman's antics, only for the woman to mock him, as a noise-making evangelist who could not withstand the nakedness of a woman.  The woman told him, she was sent to do the work and that from that day, his ministry was over. This shall not be our portion in Jesus' name.

Your Foundation - Honest search:

All new believers are not the same.  Everyone is different, so it's important to know your weak areas. Our coming to Christ is also different as some met Christ early in life without many negative experiences, while others met Christ after many exposures in life.  Some met Christ suddenly through a powerful message that smote their conscience and they surrendered.  Some others, having heard salvation messages, listen to friends and seen other people transform from bad to good and decided by themselves to give their hearts to Jesus Christ. 

Sometimes, the temptations we face are a result of our experiences and exposures in life, the things we have engaged our time to do in the past, our family history and the evil things our parents did and their consequences.  So, when a person is facing the continual urge to commit sin, he needs to identify the temptations coming to him very often, for those are his weak areas.

Which temptations are difficult for you to overcome and why? Some people may find that gossip is more alluring than sex. Others may find that even holding your finance's hand is too much of a temptation.  For some people, they have to give their lives to Jesus to be free from nightmares and daily spiritual attacks, which have turned their night today and they are helpless.  

Some believe that giving their heart to Jesus will enable them to mix with beautiful girls in the church and eventually marry one of them, while others thought that giving their heart to Jesus means that their hardship is over, as the Lord will open the heavens of employment to them.  There are many reasons why people give their hearts to Christ.  There are those who received the Lord with the purpose of serving Him and inheriting eternity. This last category has heaven at the back of their mind and they are difficult to be persuaded otherwise.  They are the ones the devil trouble and tempt the most.  

You need to look back at your life history and that of your parents in order to identify the sources of the consistent pressure to do evil.  This should be an honest assessment, so you can identify the thoughts, pictures and ideas that trigger lust in your heart and cut them off.  This will not be done for you by the Lord, it is for you to cleanse yourself and be a worthy vessel.  The blood of Jesus is there for you to use. 

Who are you Before your Repentance:
The light of God that shined in your heart unto salvation came for your blessing and so no matter what you did in the past, where you went and what you did, upon repentance, all your sins are forgiven and wiped away by God almighty and a new spirit of God comes into your life.

In Christ, all your positive expectations will be met at its due season, which may differ from your own time, but yet it could be met at your time with a strong faith in Christ and much prayer and fasting.

Mirror in your System:
However, there is a mirror in your system that recorded everything you did and experienced in the past, and all you are doing now.  This record is not wiped off when you give your heart to Jesus Christ.  It remains in your consciousness even till you depart this earth.  This record is open to Satan and his agents as well as to God and the Holy Spirit of God.

This mirror in your system is the source of the urge you feel and the pictures the devil replay in your heart to lure you into sin again after you have given your life.  

It is wiped off gradually by the illumination of your mind with the Word of God daily and obeying the Word.  This is why the bible says you are born again by the Word of God inside you.  If the Word of God is not in you, there can not be any meaningful change in that person's life.  When a person is born again and still dresses the same, speaks the same, go to the same places she or he use to go or does those things he is used to doing, you just know the word of God is absent in that life, though he has repented.

When you study and obey the word of God, you are welcoming Jesus Christ into your life and then His glory will start manifesting in your life. At the same time, you are, you are putting off the old man of vices and putting on the 'new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Christ.

What is an 'Urge' or Motion of sin?
There is a Mirror in the heart of man that records your experiences in life, both good and bad.  It is from this mirror that the devil replays your sins of the past to you to persuade you to take the 'adventure' again. If it was a sexual sin, such a picture is easily welcomed by your flesh and it begins to meditate on it.  So, do not allow such pictures and thoughts to dwell in your heart for long...reject and cast it away to be free.

'Urge' is the messenger of sin, and when you allow the thought to stay in your heart, soon you will begin to desire to do those things again, so you have to reject thoughts of the sins of the past being played in your heart and the picture the devil is showing.  This you should be prepared to do often as the devil does not relent to tempt us, especially in our areas and times of weakness.

What to Do When you are Struggling with Sin:  
Identify the Areas of your Temptation
Confess and Repent of past sins in those areas
Determine to change your ways and wrong lifestyles
Realize you need the help of Jesus through the Holy Spirit
Do away with the causes and those things that activate the urge
Seek deliverance either by yourself or through the help of an anointed man of God
Keep your heart and body pure


1. Identify the Areas of your Temptation
When you observe the urge to do something you do not want to do or something you have done in the past and vowed not to do again then it is necessary that identify the area where the 'urge' is coming from and deal with it squarely.  If for instance, you find yourself lusting after your colleague in the office, examine and find out if you have been talking for long hours with him/her. Is he/she disclosing sensitive personal information to you or are you lonely?  Find out why the interest in him or her.

If you are lonely, or if the spirit of lust has entered the person, mere touch or holding of hands with opposite sex could trigger lust.  Once you discover why you are attracted to someone you should not be attracted to, then avoid the action - maybe holding hands, having lunch together, Driving home together etc, while remaining friendly.

2.  Confess and Repent of past sins in those areas:
It may be that you had slept with a colleague in your former office and you don't know the devil has the record, as you join another company, the spirit will direct you to another lady in the new office and ask you to do it again.  

So, make sure you have confessed all such sins of sleeping with colleagues and ask for mercy.  If you don't...then you can be sure it may continue in your life, even after you are married, you will still keep a lover in the office until it breaks your home or causes you to lose your job. 

The same applies to men who have slept with their house-helps secretly, while their wives were away.  If you don't confess that sin specifically and ask for mercy and help from God, you may never overcome that weakness...and be careful, or else you start sleeping with your neighbour's house-girls before long.

3.  Determine to change your ways and wrong lifestyles:
If you are tempted in one particular area of life continually - For instance, you are constantly under pressure to smoke, to tell lies about anything, no matter how trivial or simple it may be, or the urge to visit a nightclub keeps coming and you know the effect of such an adventure, or it could be that every time you are online, you cannot resist watching pornography.  know that there is a demonic influence involved.

A strong 'urge' for sinful acts comes from demonic influence, which becomes irresistible when a demon has gained entrance into life.  The demon would normally make more frequent demands on its victim and at the wrong places and times in order to disgrace the person.  This is why you see people watching pornography in the office, making love with colleagues in the office and others masturbating on their seats in the office - because the demon wants to disgrace them in their office.

When a demon has gained entrance, you cannot help yourself.  You must seek deliverance from anointed men of God, and if you can go for self-deliverance, you should not waste time in seeking deliverance.  Please note that problems like the ones I have mentioned are an attack on your salvation.  If you ignore to seek deliverance, the devil will rubbish your salvation as a child of God.

Before seeking help or deliverance, decide in your heart never to fall into those sins again and then identify what actions activate the 'urge' so that you can avoid them.  For the deliverance to succeed, every material that promotes the actions you seek to avoid should be separated from you, else even after deliverance, the demon will still come back to such a person.  For instance, if you want to stop watching pornography, avoid naked pictures and if you had saved some on your phone (Young men and women), you have to delete them.  

Self-discipline is highly demanded when it comes to maintaining your deliverance.  A bachelor/spinster that wants to remain pure till he/she get married, will stay off many things including drinks, clubs and night parties.  

To keep your heart pure, you deliberately avoid hearing gossip and every wrong word and adult joke.  Also, you must do everything to avoid naked pictures. Remember that Mathew 5 says blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

You want to be faithful to your partner or spouse, but you are still keeping the pictures of your former lover(s) and keeping in touch with them.  When you do these, you are making provision for the flesh, which the devil will use against you sooner than later.  If some of these few precautions are not taken, certainly, its just a matter of time before you discover an affection is developing in your heart for those things you have vowed never to do again.

Beloved,  temptations are normal and applicable to all men, but it becomes a tragedy for a believer if he/she is the one activating the temptation on himself through careless living, and going to wrong places.  There are wrong places, satanic places where you cannot control what is going on there and the people you meet there are ready to do the bidding of Satan, avoid such places.


HOLINESS is Living a Separated life

Holiness is striving for peace with everyone, without which no one will see the Lord, according to Hebrews 12:14.  We are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people chosen to proclaim the excellencies of Him, who called us out of darkness into his marvellous light.

The Lord has called us to good works, towards one another and according to 1 Thessalonians 4:7 - For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonourable, he will be a vessel for honourable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, and ready for every good work.  

We are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is our spiritual worship. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. We have to know how to control our emotions and hold our bodies in holiness and honour.  Apostle Paul asked believers "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own.

The Bible says we are bought with a price, to glorify God in our body -1 Corinthians 6:20.  So we are not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you -  2 Corinthians 6:14-17
  
We have been washed by the blood of Jesus, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God - 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.  Though we were at one time in darkness, now we are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. That you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,



FIRE...

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