Fellow BAVs, are you feeling down because you've messed up? Fallen back into sexual sin? Given into lustful thoughts? Don't give up! We've all been there before! However, one (or even more than one) mistake doesn't mean you can't still succeed. Pick yourself up, brush yourself off and try again. Don't let failure get the best of you! Follow these steps, and "face-off" with your failure today! You will gain the victory!
1. Admit Your Failure and Identify Your Mistake!
As well-known evangelist and pastor Paula White often says, "You can't conquer what you don't confront, and you can't confront what you don't identify." I've always wondered, after reading 1 John 1:9, why it is that we have to confess our sins before God can be faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Then the Holy Spirit showed me the error of my thinking. It is not that God's faithfulness and justice depend on whether or not we admit our wrongdoing. God is intrinsically faithful and just regardless of what we do (2 Timothy 2:13.) Our admission of our sins is strictly for our own benefit. By identifying what exactly we do wrong, we make ourselves more apt to recognize the nature of the sin and avoid it in the future.
Think of it this way: not admitting your sins is like walking around in the dark without a flashlight. If something gets in your way and you can't identify it, you will trip over it over and over again. However, when you confess your sin, it's like shining a spotlight on that object. Then you will be able to identify the object, where exactly it was when it caused you to fall, and purposefully walk around it. When God asks us to confess our sins, it is really a bonus to our forgiveness. Not only does God release us of wrongdoing, He helps us become less likely to commit the same sin.
2. Forgive, Forget and Let Go!
Funny - I've never seen a verse in the Bible that says God will give the biggest mansion in heaven to the person who holds onto the memory of their sin the longest. I've also never seen God reward someone for carrying the biggest guilt trip. Rather, in 1 John 1:9 I get the image of us as Christians bringing our dirty sins before God, then God taking our sins from us and casting them into the "sea of forgetfulness." Then I see Him wiping off any excess dirt on us that might remain and sending us off to do His will, spotless and burden-free. Now imagine with me for a moment just how deep the sea of forgetfulness must be for God to forget about our sins. Now imagine yourself diving into the depths of that cold and frigid sea, pulling up your sins and handing them to God, saying, "You forgot this!" Crazy right? Yet that's what we do anytime we hold onto the sins we've committed when God Himself has let them go.
The best thing we can do when we fall in sin is pick ourselves up and keep moving. The last thing we want to do is stand and stare at the thing that made us fall until everything else around us becomes invisible. What we focus on will determine our vision. Try this experiment: With a quarter in hand, go outside one night and look at the moon. We all know that in actuality it is physically impossible for a quarter to cover the moon. However, hold that quarter right up in front of your eye. What happens? The quarter covers the moon! How does this happen? We focus so closely on that quarter that the image of the moon, though significantly larger than the quarter, has become obscured from our vision. Focus determines visibility. If you focus on your sins, larger matters, such as God's forgiveness and his ultimate plan of victory for your life will become obscured. Then it will become impossible for you to move forward because you will not be able to see the path in front of you for the sin impeding your sight.
This is why the apostle Paul says in Philippians 3:14,"forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus" (NASB). If we do not forget what is in our past, we cannot move toward our future, and in our future lies the ultimate revelation of the prize of our salvation in the glory of Christ Jesus. When you accept God's forgiveness and let go of your past, you expand your vision and enable yourself to move forward, unhindered, in the broad scope of the future that God has for you.
3. Exchange "Condemnation" for "Conviction!"
What's the main difference between "condemnation" and "conviction?" Direction. Condemnation causes us to run away from God in fear while conviction makes us run to God in love. Conviction is the inward nudging of the Holy Spirit that makes us aware of our sins but reminds us of God's desire to make us right. Condemnation is the sense that God is waiting to judge us harshly for our wrong. However, Jesus told his disciples in John 3:17-18 that he did not come into the world to condemn the world but to save it because, as a result of Adam's sin, the world is already condemned. Furthermore, the Bible in Romans 8:1 clearly states, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
Wait just a minute! You mean that as a Christian when I sin, I don't have to feel condemned?
NO WAY! Why in the world should you feel something that you are not? That's a clear sign of sickness! When it's 90 degrees outside and you feel cold, it means that you are ill. Perhaps you may have a fever, or maybe you might be anemic. Either way, something within you is not right. The same is true when we feel condemned. It is an indication that something about our thinking is not right because condemnation is not of God. Though Satan is the accuser of the brethren (Revelation 12:10), it is futile employment because as Christians, when God forgives our sins, He neither remembers them nor condemns us for them. If we embrace this truth, then we will be able to walk free of condemnation.
Acknowledge your failure, embrace the Holy Spirit's conviction and accept God's forgiveness. If you follow these three steps, you will triumph in your face-off with failure. Piece of cake really - God designed you to win!Monday, August 9, 2010
Face-Off With Failure
Fellow BAVs, are you feeling down because you've messed up? Fallen back into sexual sin? Given into lustful thoughts? Don't give up! We've all been there before! However, one (or even more than one) mistake doesn't mean you can't still succeed. Pick yourself up, brush yourself off and try again. Don't let failure get the best of you! Follow these steps, and "face-off" with your failure today! You will gain the victory!
1. Admit Your Failure and Identify Your Mistake!
As well-known evangelist and pastor Paula White often says, "You can't conquer what you don't confront, and you can't confront what you don't identify." I've always wondered, after reading 1 John 1:9, why it is that we have to confess our sins before God can be faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Then the Holy Spirit showed me the error of my thinking. It is not that God's faithfulness and justice depend on whether or not we admit our wrongdoing. God is intrinsically faithful and just regardless of what we do (2 Timothy 2:13.) Our admission of our sins is strictly for our own benefit. By identifying what exactly we do wrong, we make ourselves more apt to recognize the nature of the sin and avoid it in the future.
Think of it this way: not admitting your sins is like walking around in the dark without a flashlight. If something gets in your way and you can't identify it, you will trip over it over and over again. However, when you confess your sin, it's like shining a spotlight on that object. Then you will be able to identify the object, where exactly it was when it caused you to fall, and purposefully walk around it. When God asks us to confess our sins, it is really a bonus to our forgiveness. Not only does God release us of wrongdoing, He helps us become less likely to commit the same sin.
2. Forgive, Forget and Let Go!
Funny - I've never seen a verse in the Bible that says God will give the biggest mansion in heaven to the person who holds onto the memory of their sin the longest. I've also never seen God reward someone for carrying the biggest guilt trip. Rather, in 1 John 1:9 I get the image of us as Christians bringing our dirty sins before God, then God taking our sins from us and casting them into the "sea of forgetfulness." Then I see Him wiping off any excess dirt on us that might remain and sending us off to do His will, spotless and burden-free. Now imagine with me for a moment just how deep the sea of forgetfulness must be for God to forget about our sins. Now imagine yourself diving into the depths of that cold and frigid sea, pulling up your sins and handing them to God, saying, "You forgot this!" Crazy right? Yet that's what we do anytime we hold onto the sins we've committed when God Himself has let them go.
The best thing we can do when we fall in sin is pick ourselves up and keep moving. The last thing we want to do is stand and stare at the thing that made us fall until everything else around us becomes invisible. What we focus on will determine our vision. Try this experiment: With a quarter in hand, go outside one night and look at the moon. We all know that in actuality it is physically impossible for a quarter to cover the moon. However, hold that quarter right up in front of your eye. What happens? The quarter covers the moon! How does this happen? We focus so closely on that quarter that the image of the moon, though significantly larger than the quarter, has become obscured from our vision. Focus determines visibility. If you focus on your sins, larger matters, such as God's forgiveness and his ultimate plan of victory for your life will become obscured. Then it will become impossible for you to move forward because you will not be able to see the path in front of you for the sin impeding your sight.
This is why the apostle Paul says in Philippians 3:14,"forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus" (NASB). If we do not forget what is in our past, we cannot move toward our future, and in our future lies the ultimate revelation of the prize of our salvation in the glory of Christ Jesus. When you accept God's forgiveness and let go of your past, you expand your vision and enable yourself to move forward, unhindered, in the broad scope of the future that God has for you.
3. Exchange "Condemnation" for "Conviction!"
What's the main difference between "condemnation" and "conviction?" Direction. Condemnation causes us to run away from God in fear while conviction makes us run to God in love. Conviction is the inward nudging of the Holy Spirit that makes us aware of our sins but reminds us of God's desire to make us right. Condemnation is the sense that God is waiting to judge us harshly for our wrong. However, Jesus told his disciples in John 3:17-18 that he did not come into the world to condemn the world but to save it because, as a result of Adam's sin, the world is already condemned. Furthermore, the Bible in Romans 8:1 clearly states, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
Wait just a minute! You mean that as a Christian when I sin, I don't have to feel condemned?
NO WAY! Why in the world should you feel something that you are not? That's a clear sign of sickness! When it's 90 degrees outside and you feel cold, it means that you are ill. Perhaps you may have a fever, or maybe you might be anemic. Either way, something within you is not right. The same is true when we feel condemned. It is an indication that something about our thinking is not right because condemnation is not of God. Though Satan is the accuser of the brethren (Revelation 12:10), it is futile employment because as Christians, when God forgives our sins, He neither remembers them nor condemns us for them. If we embrace this truth, then we will be able to walk free of condemnation.
Acknowledge your failure, embrace the Holy Spirit's conviction and accept God's forgiveness. If you follow these three steps, you will triumph in your face-off with failure. Piece of cake really - God designed you to win!
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I thank God for this blog Crystal! There are so many girls and women that think they are alone in this fight, think it can't be won, or don't see a reason to fight. You're a voice countering the pervasive thoughts that "everybody's doing it" or "if you've done it, you might as well keep doin' it". You give clear, honest, relate-able advice to current BOVs and BOV's to be. Get it!
ReplyDeleteThanks "Love Letter!" I appreciate the words of encouragement! Please join me in praying that God will keep those of us who have struggled with sexual sin free from the bondage of shame and guilt. We can be victorious! We are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus! Once in Christ, we CAN get it right!
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