God’s word declares : “For sin shall not have dominion over you”, Romans 6:14. The shed blood of Jesus Christ through His sacrificial death on Calvary, breaks the power of cancelled sin in my life when I humble myself and repent.
The Holy Spirit gives revelation for me to understand the mechanics of the wonderful gift of salvation, as I walk in truth – the light He reveals to me. When the Holy Spirit opens the eyes of my understanding, my responsibility is to walk in that revealed light, otherwise the revelation becomes condensation and evaporates. “Enchanted but unchanged!” (Oswald Chamber’s quote).
Am I struggling with unconfessed sin in my life? 2 Corinthians 12:9 “…..My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness”. If I find an insufficiency of that which God declares is sufficient, (His grace), then the fault is on my side and somewhere I am not walking in truth. John 1:17 reveals that grace and truth are married: “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ”. What is the truth the Lord requires me to humble and embrace, in order to be delivered from the same state the apostle Paul struggled with at one stage in his life? Romans 7 details his struggle before deliverance and revelation given in the following chapter 8. (Read those for yourself).
The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin so what is this guilt, shame, condemnation I experience from sin that I involve myself in, that I hate and despise, but struggle with? The root of all sin is pride. Jesus dealt with the sin problem at Calvary, but God RESISTS the proud – 1 Peter 5:5-6 “……all of you be subject one to another and be clothed with humility, for God RESISTS the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time”. The condemnation I experience from unconfessed sin is the lack of God’s grace and peace on my life, God’s resistance due to my pride. Proverbs 16:5 “Everyone that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord”. Strong language!
God will not humble me. I have to humble myself where He is showing me, under His mighty hand of direction. I do not have to go on a witch hunt, fearful of missing something. We have a faithful Guide in the Holy Spirit who will continue to convict us of all that prevents us walking closely with our heavenly Father. Humility is the character of Christ. In Him we find the fullness of all grace and truth, transparent, no darkness at all. Sin produces shame and causes us to hide in our pride of not wanting others to know of our struggles. God, in His loving kindness, forebears and is long suffering, but if we persist in refusing to humble where He has shown us, then He will not humble us, but humiliate us, in order to come to the end of ourselves because, in His goodness, He wants the best for us, and knows how damaging our wrong choices can be. Any chastisement from God is from His loving hand and not a cruel punishment. A loving father faithfully corrects his children for their ultimate good and development.
So many try to dust away the cobwebs of sin, instead of catching the spider of pride which causes the cobweb. Stop dusting cobwebs and catch the spider!
My present judgements father my future failings! Romans 2:1 warns: “Therefore you are inexcusable whoever you are that judges, for wherein you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you that judge others, do the same things”. Grave digging!……your own! Out of my pride I judge other people and in the hardness of my heart despise them in what they are doing. I believe, in my pride, that I am not like them, instead of realising the truth of the statement: “There, BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD, go I”. If God removed the hand of His grace from my life, His keeping grace, I could be capable of anything. God’s word declares in Jeremiah 17:9-10 “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it? I the Lord search the heart,….even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings”. That is why Jesus came to give us a new heart.
Out of my pride comes all the sin of the messes of my life. When I embrace the truth of what I am, humble myself and repent before the Lord, then Jesus’ blood breaks the power of cancelled sin in my life and delivers me. I discover the power of walking in the newness of His resurrection life, and find a sufficiency of His grace and peace. Cleansed by His blood!
“Sin shall not have dominion over me”. Catch the spider!
