Christian Living
Here I am on a beautiful Sunday morning teaching on the believer’s innate ability to overcome sin and all kinds of temptations. And someone in my class does not agree with me. His reason? He is ‘human’, not God, and as long as he lives in his body (flesh), it is inevitable to commit sin.
Is he absolutely wrong?
I dare say he is right to the extent that the first part of John 3:6 reveals; “That which is born of the flesh is flesh,….”
My only problem with his stand though is seen in the second part of the same scripture which reads; “…..and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” This is where the believer’s focus should be! The first part applies to an unbeliever. (1 John 3:8).
Everyone who has confessed Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior has had a spiritual rebirth. And so is born of the Spirit. God expects such a one to not sin (1 John 5:18), and to overcome the world (1 John 5:4-5).
So yes, you have the seed of God in you (1 John 3:9) and that simply implies you can operate in the supernatural, not only for your breakthroughs and miracles, but also to live a sinless life and to overcome (live above) all forms of temptations.
Look at 1 Corinthians 10:17 which assures us of God’s faithfulness in ensuring that only the temptations, worries, troubles etc we can handle come to us. He additionally makes a way of escape out of every temptation.
“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it”
It is of utmost importance to quickly note here that God doesn’t send the temptations! And James 1:13 tells us that much;
“let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God”, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone”
God will not be proving anything by sending a temptation and then going through the ‘stress’ of helping us overcome it. (Selah) Apostle Paul tells of ‘the tempter’ in 1 Thessalonians 3:5. The one who roams to and fro the earth looking for who to devour. Am sure you know who is being referred to here…..
Personally, I get really upset when situations come my way that I clearly know could not have been incited by my Father in Heaven. Remembering in such times that ‘He that is in me is Greater, Mightier, Bigger than he that is in the world’, sets me on my way to victory. Halleluyah. (1 John 4:4).
So I say to you today brethren, ‘You can take it’. If it came to you, then you can handle it.
You can handle that sickness and overcome it. You can tame that child and make him/her better. You can solve that problem and come out victorious. You can overcome Satan and the different shades of his schemes. Whether his conspiracies are thrown directly at you, or through your family, business or social sphere, He that is in you is Greater than he is.
You will only overcome him and all his plots through an unwavering faith in the Faithfulness of God to deliver. (1John 5: 4-5).
What has God said in His word about that situation? You’ll need to fetch your Bibles and find out.You’ll need to spend time in prayer to stay strengthened in your inner man. You’ll need to not forsake the gathering of the brethren because God’s word can reach that situation in that kind of atmosphere. You’ll need to stay sensitive and tune in completely to God’s frequency.
Keep your gaze on The Lord and off the storm. I promise you, of a certainty, that in no time, the wind will blow over as long as you stand firmly on The Rock that never fails (Luke 8:13).
Halleluyah to Jesus Christ.
