The Struggle Is Real…

I know a lot of people who get so confused and apprehensive with this word, sin, what is sin? Anything and everything that goes against the life God has planned for you to walk in.

I heard on a podcast the other day mention something that really got my mind turning, “what if when we die and get before God, we meet a version of ourselves that we COULD HAVE been if we would have walked out the life God originally created us for”. Mind blown, right? I know, me too.
It got me thinking, just how much are the things of this world actually holding us back from fully experiencing God’s purpose in our lives.

Comfort Zone

Sin isn’t always going to be something that is obvious to us, like murder or theft. Most of our sin looks more like our habits and our comfort zones.
We’ve become so accustomed to doing the things that make us comfortable [complacent; ignorant; lazy] that we don’t even realize that those very things hold us back from a life of greater purpose.

We get use to cursing or using Gods name in vain, we get use to reacting in anger, we naturally talk bad about other people’s life choices (aka gossip), we lie about everything or maybe just the “little” things, we hold a grudge towards someone, and many more subtle habitual things that keep Gods goodness just out of reach sometimes.

Surrendering Control

Another thing that holds a lot of people back from truly becoming immersed in Gods goodness is their fear of complete surrender.
I know how scary this sounds and trust me it’s even scarier to do [I’m still working on this one daily], but Lord my Lord is He faithful.
It’s amazing the goodness you begin to see when you enter into full surrender on a positive trusting foot. I’m sure you’re thinking about specific situations in your life right now and saying “I can’t just ‘let this go’ I have bills to pay; my health is at risk.”

And to that I say God’s got you. Of course, you do your part, you go to work, you visit the doctor, seek counsel. But ALSO trust that the Lord your God is a good God, and His promises and power are true and active in your life.

Something that the Lord has kept repeating in my mind recently is
“seeing isn’t believing, believing is seeing”.

Only when you trust enough to walk in it will you see it.

Hentchmen

I know not everyone will agree with this part but I believe with all my spirit that this life is a spiritual experience and we are missing it when we allow ourselves to live in the flesh [see Ephesians 6:12]. We are not of this world, we were made for a life with Jesus, we are carrying a spirit within us and there are also spirits around us. Yes, yes there are.

So what does this mean?

This means that if you allow yourself to rely on the ways of this world you will apply worldly conditions and reasons to your sin. Yes, things happen to you because of your own wrong choices and negligence to God’s Word but there are also spiritual forces against you.

Like I said in my article on “Prayer” there is a spiritual realm that the devil, our adversary, operates in. This is a realm that is not seen with our fleshly eyes. But through prayer and getting into the Word, we can better defend ourselves when he comes into our lives and tries to tear us apart with his lies and confusion.

Being alert and staying aware to life, intentionality, is important in combating the enemy and our bad habits.

1 Thessalonians 5:6
“So be on guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded.”
Romans 12:2
“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”