Latching On to God’s Promises Shortly before His death, Jesus pleaded with His Father on behalf of His followers, “Make them pure and holy by teaching them your words of truth” (John 17:17). Our loving God has given us a tool for our spiritual well-being: His written Word, which is “full of living power” (Hebrews …
Continue reading “33071 Step 5. Preventing Setbacks: Latching On to God’s Promises”
Considering the Flesh to Be Dead When we speak of “flesh,” it is important to understand that we are not talking about the human body.¹ Rather, the “flesh” is the part of us that is opposed to the Spirit of God—our ungodly desires and selfish motives. Thus, while the “world” is an outward spiritual enemy, …
Continue reading “33061 Step 4. Defending Your Ground: Considering the Flesh to Be Dead”
God wants us to succeed in resisting temptation, and He gives us help to do what is right. “The Lord is faithful; He will make you strong and guard you from the evil one” (2 Thessalonians 3:3). So the Devil, while ferocious, is not a foe we are incapable of defeating in the Lord’s power. …
Continue reading “33062 Step 4. Defending Your Ground: The Armor of God”
God on the Throne It is important that we see the world, the flesh, and the Devil as acting together in opposition to us. Sometime ago I (Bill) tried to explain how it all works to a young woman who came to see me. This young woman was unattractive and overweight and her face was …
Continue reading “33063 Step 4. Defending Your Ground: God on the Throne”
Prayer 3: “God, forgive me.” Once people feel the full weight of what they have done by their sin, they often move into fix-it mode. They want to do a greater amount of good than the harm they have done. Or they want to penalize themselves in some way, as if they could in that …
Continue reading “33051 Step 3. Turning Around: Prayer 3 and 4”
Prayer 5: “God, empower me.” When we pray for cleansing, we are asking for the spiritual effects of our past sin to be wiped away. When we pray for empowerment, on the other hand, we are asking for God’s help to avoid a repetition of our sin in the future. This is the fifth and …
Saying We Are Sorry Just as we need to make things right with God, so we need to try to make things right with those whom we have hurt by our sin. In fact, Jesus said that reconciliation is so important that it is worth interrupting worship for. “If you are standing before the altar …
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What Do You Believe about Others? It stands to reason that if we cannot see ourselves as we are, there is no way that our perceptions of others can be accurate either. We look at others through lenses that have been distorted by our own mistaken beliefs. We do not see them as God sees …
Continue reading “33042 Step 2. Embracing Truth: What Do You Believe about Others?”
A Strategy That Works In this life “we see things imperfectly as in a poor mirror,” admitted Paul the apostle. Mirrors at the time Paul wrote were mere polished pieces of metal, and so their imperfect reflection, especially in the worst of them, well represented how the truths about life are often murky or incomplete …
Continue reading “33041 Step 2. Embracing Truth: A Strategy That Works”
Our enemy, Satan, does not like it when we repent of sin. He wants to pull us back into sin as soon as he can, and he will use every weapon in his arsenal to that end. That is why we can never relax our vigilance once we have repented. Life happens day by day, …