For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.(1 Peter 3:18)
What a great and final victory! What joy for those who trust and believe in Him! Such hope for the hopeless! When Jesus died, He died for the sins of all men, not just a few. What separates men from God is not having a relationship with Jesus. For years I struggled with sexual sin and being in bondage to drugs. I never felt good enough. I remained in my sin because I was blind to what Christ had done for me through His death and resurrection.
Once we acknowledge God’s great love for us and receive it and repent of our sins, we can rest in the great salvation that He purchased for us. As long as we believe the lies of the enemy, we are held back from being all that God has created us to be in Him. When we continue to believe Satan, strongholds are built up in our mind and those strongholds are supported by the demonic realm. We must refute the devil’s lies no matter what we feel!
One of the great tragedies in the church today is the neglect of removing sin from our lives once we know the truth. Habitual sin and lifestyles that do not line up with God’s word, will keep us from our destiny and rob us of our joy, peace and potential. When Jesus took care of our sin for us on the cross, He removed the power it had over us as stated in Romans 6:6,”For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.”
God’s grace is the empowerment not to live in sin. Grace is not the get out of the consequence card while we are rebelliously living in sin. What Jesus did for us should motivate us to flee from all appearances of evil. Everyone sins in some way, and when we see that, we recognize it, repent from it and move on. Proverbs 24:16 says,”The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again.” 1 John 1:8 says,”If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” If Jesus was fine with us living in sin, then why would he tell the woman caught in adultery, go and sin no more? Sin is still an issue if we make it an issue by living in it and living under its power.
What Jesus accomplished for us is beyond description, love in totality and far above what we ever deserved. If we look at what He did and know the awesome price He paid we would love Him the more. We are in a time of looking at evil being called good and good being called evil. A time of redefining what marriage is. A time of murdering unborn babies by the thousands upon thousands. The future needs to be paved by grace in truth, not just grace. Let those who love the Lord hate evil, for He guards the lives of His faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked. (Psalm 97:10)
I myself have been faced with a particular situation that has literally taken my breath away because the battle is so strong. I had to decide, no matter how much it may hurt me now, that I need to make some changes so that I can stop the enemy from getting a hold on my life. There are times when what is coming against you is so beautiful and so tempting, that you fail to see what is happening to your walk with God because your flesh is being so satisfied and your soul is brought such excitement. The problem is that while the flesh and the soul may be having a good time, all the while your spirit is losing touch with God. The most important relationship anyone can ever have is the relationship between us and the Father. When that relationship becomes weakened, then it is time to take inventory and see what needs to change in your life. The pleasures of sin are but for a moment. Eternity is forever!
Remember always that you have authority over sin and we have been made alive in the Spirit!
Pastor Michael Cannatello
lazarusministry.com
