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DAILY DEVOTIONAL TUESDAY AUGUST 2, 2005
(Jeremiah 17:9, Mark 7:20-23, 1 Corinthians 10:13, Psalms 51:10, Romans
12:2)
***COMING THIS FRIDAY! Due to the overwhelming response to the Devotional
last Friday on "Dying to self," I will be doing a follow-up to that
Devotional this Friday. In that follow-up, I will detail exactly HOW to
"die to self" each day. This is such a critical part of our walk with
Christ that it warrants a follow-up so that you not only know why "dying to
self" is so important, but how!
***"The 300" UPDATE: Please be praying for the 7 units we need in by this
Friday, and the other 14 we need before the end of the month. Stand with me
in faith as we trust God to move on those hearts that have the ability to
help.
How do you wake up in bed with someone.....who is not your spouse? Or, how
do you find yourself with a straw in your nose snorting lines of coke? Or,
how do you start talking to someone and end up telling horrible stories
about someone else? Or, how do you walk into a store and leave with an item
you didn't pay for? Or, how do you tell your parents you are going one
place and actually go to the exact place they told you not to go? How does
a person come to that place where they are actually COMMITTING sin?
I can assure you that you didn't wake up and just "end up" in bed with
someone who isn't your spouse. I love the great line people use, "I didn't
mean this to happen," or, "it just happened." No, actually you DID mean it
to happen and NOTHING "just happens." Sin is the ultimate act of
selfishness since by its very definition, sin is rebellion against God.
Even though satan, the great justifier, will give you lots of reasons you
sinned to help you ease the guilt, the fact is sin is literally you saying
to God, "not thy will but MY WILL be done!"
It would be nice if we sinned in a vacuum and we were the only one we hurt,
but that isn't the case. As we just learned we hurt God when we sin. You
should know by now that when you sin you hurt yourself. Sin costs, and it
costs you much more than you ever expected to pay. Sadly however, in
addition to hurting God and yourself, your sin hurts others. Let's just
look at the sin of adultery or fornication for example. In addition to
hurting God and yourself, you hurt the person you sinned with, you hurt your
family, you hurt the family of the other person, not to mention people in
both of your lives that may be affected by your sin. This notion that you
only hurt yourself when you sin is just another one of satan's lies!
Please be honest enough to admit that when you sin, it was because you
WANTED TO! The reality is, you had more than enough opportunities to NOT
sin if you really didn't want to. Sin starts in our heart. Jeremiah the
prophet proclaimed, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and
desperately wicked: who can know it?" It was our Lord and Savior Jesus who
said in Mark 7, "That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.
For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries,
fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit,
lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil
things come from within, and defile the man." That is why David prayed,
"Create in me a clean heart, O God" in the 51st Psalm. The Bible talks much
about having a "new heart," a "clean heart."
From the heart, sin then travels to our mind. It is in our mind where we
"think" about our sin, whether consciously or not. This notion of running
out and sinning is sheer folly. If you think back on your sins, you will
clearly remember those times of actually thinking about or dwelling on your
sin. The deeper we get into sin, the more time we spend thinking about it.
Initially, our thoughts are about the consequences of sinning, about whether
we should actually go through with it or not. After we physically commit
the sin a few times, our thoughts are more about the sin itself than
stopping. Again, this is why the Bible talks to us extensively about the
"renewing of our mind."
This takes us back to the questions I asked you in the very first paragraph.
Once sin is born in our heart, travels to our mind and is not stopped, the
physical act is inevitable. If you let sin into your heart, if you let it
fester in your mind, the chances of you having the "will power" to not
commit the physical act of sinning is very unlikely. The reality is and
what you need to understand, is that you have already sinned even before the
physical act occurs. What happened in your heart and mind is already sin.
That is why Jesus said if you lust in your heart after another woman you
have already committed the act of adultery. All the physical act is, is the
culmination of the sin you already committed.
I love you and care about you so much. Now the good news! YOU DON'T HAVE
TO SIN! Let me say this loud enough for the hard of hearing and even satan
to hear, YOU DON'T HAVE TO SIN!!! God CAN give you a new heart. God WILL
help you to renew your mind. God DOES give you many opportunities to escape
sin and say no along the way. YOU DON'T HAVE TO SIN! Don't let the enemy
lie to you that you are too weak, YOU DON'T HAVE TO SIN! The fact is, God
will give you everything you need to live your life in obedience to Him.
Say it with me, I DON'T HAVE TO SIN!!!
This is why I share with you often how important your daily relationship
with the Lord through prayer and the Word is. The closer you are to the
Lord, the further you are from sin. That is why it is so important to "die
to self" each day. Again, when it is Christ living and not us, sin has no
part of our life. Also, never forget the great promise God gives us in 1
Corinthians 10, "But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so
that you can stand up under it." I can guarantee you without any hesitation
that if you think back on the sins you have committed in your life, you can
point to at least one, maybe dozens of "escape routes" God provided that you
ignored.
I will be praying for you today. Praying that you realize you don't have to
sin. However, if you want victory over sin in your life, there are things
YOU must do. A football team can't show up an hour before the first game
and expect to win. They have to put in hours and hours of hard work and
practice before the game to have any chance at victory. The same is true if
you want victory over sin, you have to work at it. If you will spend time
each day with the Lord in prayer, if you will spend time each day renewing
your mind through His Word, if you will make that commitment to die to self
each day so that it is Christ in control of your life, if when confronted
with sin you will take the escape routes God gives you, you can live your
life in obedience to God. YOU DON'T HAVE TO SIN!
In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller
If I can help you in any way you can contact me through my personal email at
bkeller@liveprayer.com
***ARE YOU 100% CERTAIN WHERE YOU WILL SPEND ETERNITY? The fact is you will
die one day. At that moment, you will either spend eternity with the Lord
or be cast into everlasting darkness forever separated from God your
creator. To know for certain you will be forever with Jesus, go to:
http://www.liveprayer.com/bdy_salvatn.html
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(C) Copyright 2005, Bill Keller Ministries. All rights reserved
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