Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. (Acts 20:26)
It was Paul,(who was previously named Saul) who said these words who Jesus met and transformed. He was on his way to murder the saints of God when the intervention came. He was guilty of much innocent bloodshed, but Jesus changed his life. Through the power and love of Jesus, this man Paul was recreated in Christ Jesus, became a soldier for God and wrote much of the New Testament.
When we became part of the family of God and repented of our sins, our past was erased. We are no longer who we were or known by God for the things we did, but rather we are new creations and we are known by God as the purchased by His Son’s blood. We can confidently say that we are no longer murderers or liars or adulterers or fornicators or sexually immoral, but we have been washed in the blood of the Lamb and sanctified as holy unto God. We no longer need to hold on to an identity that is not ours, but we are to take on the identity of Christ Jesus.
One of the battles that we fight when we give our lives to Jesus is dealing with the memories attached to our sinful past. In truly finding out and believing what God’s word says about us and about who we are in Him, we can then overcome the thought patterns of the past and walk in victory. This is where the scripture comes to fruition that says,” be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” We have already been transformed in God’s eyes, but only until the renewing of our minds takes place, does this happen in our own eyes. We are renewed in our minds by washing ourselves in what the Word tells us and says about us.
Satan will always come back and tempt us with the very things that we fell to in the past. If our sins were lust and greed, he is not going to tempt us with lying and stealing. The enemy will try to choke us on what we were previously drowning in. To those who are struggling with temptation or maybe you have fallen to the sins that used to have you bound, if you have fallen, get back up! If you fall again, get back up! If you fall again, get back up! Don’t allow the enemy to hold you stuck in a pattern of spiraling sin due to the guilt and shame of your actions. Call upon God’s Spirit, confess your sins to Him, receive forgiveness and crush your adversary!
Proverbs 24:16 tells us,”for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.”
Get back up! Don’t be mindful of what the devil says in your ear that you won’t make it, that you’re not worthy, that God is through with you. Satan is a liar and the best at it! Get back up!
Know God’s word and believe what It says! Through Jesus, we are made innocent.
Pastor Michael Cannatello
TMMC-The Ministry of Michael Cannatello
