Day 263: A Way Out

1 Corinthians 10:12-13

If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

We all know what temptation feels like, and we know the struggle of resisting, but we also know the feeling of giving in. As Christians we are constantly tempted, there are always things calling us to sin, whether it be our past, someone asking to be told off or throat punched in a very non-christian way. We can only flip tables so many times when trying to go the, “What Would Jesus Do” method. Whether it be sins that we struggle with and people we are trying to let go of, or the big one, sex. Even those of us waiting for marriage know what the temptations of premarital sex look and feel like. However, I believe that in these moments, God is giving us a way out. Take a look that the scriptures above it literally tells us that God will show us a way out. He will not allow us to be tempted more than we can stand, even though it’s hard God knows we can stand it. I feel like He believes in us more than we do ourselves. He knows us more than we know ourselves, that’s why He’s God. While we’re battling with our flesh and going crazy, God is giving us a way out, looking at us a having faith that we will choose Him over our flesh. Many times we can choose Him because we are deeply rooted in Him and we know that He will always provide a way out, but for those moments of weakness. Those moments when we just decide to give in, when we let our fleshly desires, and urges take over. Those are the moments we tend to always be brought back to. We often find ourselves feeling like Paul when he said, in Romans 7:15, “I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate.” I have heard time and time again, “if God knows everything why does He allow us to sin?” I’ve even had that question before. Uhm, excuse me but God is not telling us to sin, nor is He leading us to sin, He has in fact provided a way out of it. When we sin it’s our own doing. We make a choice, not God, He gave us freewill so when we sin it is our choice. The same way it was Adam and Eve’s choice to eat the fruit from the tree. They made a choice on their own. God did not tempt them, He told them what not to do, they decided to go against what he said.

You ever try to blame your decision to sin on something or someone else? Like Adam and Eve, God deliberately told them not to eat from one specific tree, one tree they couldn’t eat from. Out of all the trees in the Garden of Eden there was one they were not allowed to eat of. The serpent came and tempted Eve, but the serpent did not force Eve to do anything, Eve decided to listen and decided to sin against God on her own, and so did Adam. But when God questioned them, they blamed everyone and everything but themselves, Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the servant. I believe that even in the Garden of Eden God had a way out, there were countless other trees they could have eaten off of, why go to the forbidden one. Then blame anything or anyone else to take the heat off themselves.

*confession time* For a long time, since I was fifteen I have struggled with pornography. I was a seed that was planted at a very young age and took root around the age of fifteen and began to grow. It stopped when I became a Christian, but I always felt myself struggling with it, going back and forth with it. Wanting to let it go but sometimes finding myself going back whenever I had a moment of weakness, I tried to get help and the person I tried to confess to did nothing but judge me and throw it in my face every chance they got. However every time I found myself viewing pornography or something similar, I would find myself trying to justify it. ‘Well, I’m having a hard day’ or ‘I’m weak right now’. I realized that it was something that I never needed or had to do, it was something I chose to do. God always provided a way out, I just chose to ignore it. I had to learn to own up to my desire to please my flesh and when I learned to confess and be honest with myself that’s when things started to change. When I started being honest with God and saying, this is me, this is my flesh wanting to do the very thing I know I am not supposed to do. That’s when things started to change, because I began to realize that there is always a way out, no matter how hard it may be to take the road out, it’s so rewarding.

All this to say, there is always a way out. God will not allow us to be tempted pass what we can stand. I know it’s hard, this is something we can all agree on, but whatever you are struggling with, whatever is holding you back from God let it go. You are much stronger than you think, because your strength is found in the Lord. In those moments of weakness call on the Lord, stop and pray even when your flesh is telling you not to. Who you are in Christ is much stronger than you flesh and it’s worldly desires. Another thing, sometimes we fall, sometimes we are weak and we allow ourselves to fall into that temptation. But you get up, confess your sins to God, go to a brother or sister in Christ for prayer, trust that God has forgiven you and you move on. There’s no use of dwelling on it, or beating yourself up about it, move on. You can change the past but you can learn so you won’t make the same mistakes in the future. While you’re at it, make sure you forgive yourselves, A lot of times we condemn ourselves when God Himself doesn’t do it. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). Proverbs 24:16 tells us that a just man falls seven times but he gets back up. So get back up and get walking, don’t dwell on your past or you shortcomings.

Reflection

1. Can you relate to anything that we discussed today?
2. Is there something that you have been struggling with that you need to confess to God and maybe a brother or sister in Christ?
3. Can you confess it to yourself first, meaning can you own up to it and be honest with yourself and God?
4. What is it? (this is not something you need to tell me, if you’d like to respond to me go ahead and I will pray with you, but confess to yourself, God, and someone you trust who can strengthen you spiritually).
5. This is very hard, I know it is, but if it is tugging on your heart and keeping you from fully giving yourself to God, release it, seek help, prayer and ask God to deliver you. This is serious.

Prayer Time

Allow your answers and responses to the above questions guide your prayer today. Just talk to God and confess everything to Him. Seek out someone to pray with and for you, if you’d like to reach out to me, please do not hesitate.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening, b sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 264!

Day 82: Burdened with Sin

Psalms 31:10

...my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away.

Psalms 32: 5

I acknowledged my sin to you and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

We all know that we are born into sin, we live in a broken world. We are not perfect therefore we have a need for a savior, Jesus Christ, and that savior is the only one to save us from our sin. Today let’s talk about sin, not sin in general but our personal sin. David says that it is his iniquities that make him weak, iniquity is another word for sin.  David knows that his own sin is what causes his spiritual weakness, as sinners we cannot fix this alone, we become our own stumbling block when we keep allowing ourselves to choose to sin knowing that it is detrimental to our spiritual health.  

In the next chapter David says that he acknowledges his sin and he will confess it to the Lord. He’s not going to try and hide it, but he is going to take his iniquities before the Lord knowing that forgiveness is in Him, salvation, and redemption is in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To acknowledge something means, to admit to be real or true; recognize the existence, truth, or fact of. Knowing and acknowledging something are two different things, we can know something but that doesn’t mean we will acknowledge it as truth. We know we are sinful, we know our sin is causing us to go down a terrible path, this is facts, it’s what we know, but will we admit it? Are we willing to go before God as we are and say, “I’m a sinful mess.” sometimes it’s as simple as that. Can we find the courage to confess our sins to the only one who can forgive them. Sometimes it’s as easy as saying, God help me. God won’t judge us, but he will forgive us. There is this beautiful thing called grace and God is full of it.

We cannot allow our souls to rot in a sinful hole because we are too shameful or too embarrassed to go to God, or we’re too full of pride. We all sin, believe it or not. After David gets done confessing to the Lord he says, “...And you forgave me.” We’ve talked about carrying burdens of many things, but too many of us are carrying the burden of sin, we are carrying the burden of death and it’s making us weaker and weaker everyday. We have to take especially these burdens to the Lord, because it will literally save our lives. Sin does not belong to us either, just because we were born into sin and into a broken world does not mean we have to bear the burden of it. It does not mean that we have to carry our sin around with us, Jesus died for humanity, he came for that sin. Stop carrying it around drop it and leave it at the foot of the cross. When you drop it, don’t pick it back up. Often times we go back and pick up our sin. No, we have to leave it there, we have to let it go down to the grave with Jesus and stay there. It does not belong to us. Drop it and leave it!

When God offers forgiveness and salvation in exchange for your sin, take it! Accept His forgiveness, there is no shame or condemnation in the Lord.

Reflection

1. Are you burdened by sin?
2. Are you willing to acknowledge that sin and confess it to the Lord?
3. What is on your heart that you need to confess to the Lord?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer. Talk to God about whatever is on your heart. Confess your sins to Him, allow him to purify your hearts and accept his forgiveness. Pour your heart out to the Lord, lay all your burdens at his feet, and know that you are forgiven.

Maybe you never had the chance to submit your life to Christ or you want to rededicate your life to Him. I believe that now is the time to do that. Take all that sin and confess it to the Lord, whatever it is, surrender it to Him. Know that He can take it, and you will find freedom in His house. He loves us so much that He wants us to be bear and with Him for all eternity. Forever in His holy temple.

If you made the choice to follow Christ, rededicate, or to submit your life to Him fully, Go to Romans 10:9-10

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

And repeat these few words,

Jesus I declare that you are my Lord and Saviour who died for my sin and was raised three days later. I repent of my sins and I give my life to you. I believe in my heart that you are the true living God. Thank you for saving me. In Jesus name, Amen.

Congratulations! The angels in heaven are rejoicing right now. Get plugged in to your local church, and bible study. If you have any further questions feel free to contact me, Thedyamondjbackup@gmail.com IAmDyamondJ on all social media networks.

Be sure to come back tomorrow for Day 83 and everyday for the rest of the year!