Many years ago, there was a movie in which an innocent man was convicted of murder and sent to death row. He was taken by vehicle to the prison and as he walked through the gate into the cellblock, a guard walked in front of him, calling out, “Dead man walking”.

This page talks about us...

A pastor friend once told me about a visit to New York. Apparently as he was strolling down the street and window-shopping, a young woman approached him. She was a call girl and when she propositioned him, he declined, saying something like, “No thanks. I am a dead man.” She replied, saying, “I’m sorry to hear that. Is there anything that can be done for your condition?”
We all laughed at that, but it can relate to our lives and experience in God.

Let us go back to the beginning, to the place where sin entered into the world in Genesis 3:15:
…And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.

This was a prophetic statement and we now know that Jesus is that seed of the women, but here is something interesting. Women do not have seed! This word is zāraʿ that is seen more than 220 times. It talks about agriculture in the sense of the time of sowing, or seedtime; the result of what is scattered or sown and semen. The fourth meaning is the offspring in the promised line of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (and their descendants).
You might know about this already, but seed also produces a crop or harvest that is the direct result of what we sow spiritually.
Don’t be misled; remember that you can’t ignore God and get away with it: a man will always reap just the kind of crop he sows! If he sows to please his own wrong desires, he will be planting seeds of evil and he will surely reap a harvest of spiritual decay and death; but if he plants the good things of the Spirit, he will reap the everlasting life that the Holy Spirit gives him. And let us not get tired of doing what is right, for after a while we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t get discouraged and give up. Galatians 6:7-9

What Paul just said can relate to our everyday lives.

Without getting legalistic, what we do or neglect to do does have an influence on us. It is a matter of obedience or disobedience.

God may want us to do something, to stop doing a certain thing, or give something away and we do not want to comply, so the blessing, or the desired outcome often just does not come.
I know many people who seem to go from drama to drama in their lives and they are always struggling. When they cry out, I ask them, “Have you done what God asked of you?” Most times they have not and what is sad is that the issue can often be very trivial. He may ask us to stop taking sugar or drinking coffee, or give someone a trinket we might not be using but refusal to comply is just as sinful as committing murder.
There are no degrees of sin.

The reverse is just as true. It is not that we earn God’s favor, or that we can twist His arm to get our own way because we can’t, but it aligns us into the position whereby the blessing and favor can come without hindrance.
The choice is ours. Adam and eve had that choice.
They planted a seed that all mankind is reaping, but God also said that this woman’s seed would rectify the situation.
Her (prophetic) son is Jesus. He came when the time was right.
 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Galatians 4:4-7

At this point, I would like to ask, “What did Jesus do?” This might sound a strange question, but it is strange how many believers do not really know precisely what happened. Let us see what the bible tells us-

 The soul that sins, it [is the one that] shall die. The son shall not bear and be punished for the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear and be punished for the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him only, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon the wicked only.
 But if the wicked man turns from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all My statutes and does that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die.
 None of his transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; for his righteousness which he has executed [for his moral and spiritual rectitude in every area and relation], he shall live.
 Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked? says the Lord, and not rather that he should turn from his evil way and return [to his God] and live? Ezekiel 18:20-23

For the wages which sin pays is death, but the [bountiful] free gift of God is eternal life through (in union with) Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23

It is evident that because of Adam we are all under the same curse. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:22, that because of Adam, we all die. Death was never God’s desire. Adam was created to live forever. The human body is a truly amazing thing. Sickness should not exist. Creation itself should not be in a state of decay and is groaning under the weight of sin, waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God.

 For [even the whole] creation (all nature) waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God's sons to be made known [waits for the revealing, the disclosing of their sonship]. Romans 8:19 

Please take note of the reference to the Law. If there is no law to break, we are innocent. We cannot break a law if there is none.
Man really only became consciously aware of sin when the Law reminded them of it.

At this point, I have to take a slight detour to talk about the keeping of the Law. There were over 600 in all, not just the Ten Commandments. Scriptures reveal that all it could do was really condemn us. If someone did something contrary to God’s will, the Law demanded something be done, usually sacrificially. All that happened was that the transgression was merely covered and God was  (temporarily) appeased, but it never dealt with the very inherent principle of man’s sinful nature. He was caught in a cycle of committing a sin, repenting, seeking forgiveness, making restitution and returning to the same old patterns.

Only one man could keep that Law and His name is Jesus. He fulfilled it. This means that it is still valid in a way, but their purpose was temporary only waiting for the Second Adam to meet their requirements, both by the keeping of them and by being the sacrificial offering for them. Anyone else who tries to keep the law today will fail and thus displease God, because they are treating Calvary with disrespect. Everything hinges around Jesus and what He did. See Galatians 2:16; 5:1; 6:2; Colossians 2:20. I will now return to Romans chapter five…

 When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.  Yes, people sinned even before the law was given. But it was not counted as sin because there was not yet any law to break. 
Still, everyone died—from the time of Adam to the time of Moses—even those who did not disobey an explicit commandment of God, as Adam did. Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ, who was yet to come.
But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ.
And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins.
For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ. 

I say that because God says so in His word. In 1 John 1:7 we see that the Blood of Jesus Christ (nothing else) cleanses us from All sin. John added that if we confess our sins (to God) He is faithful and just to forgive us sins and to cleanse us from All unrighteousness. In the 2^nd chapter John states that we have an advocate or paraklētos with the Father. When Jesus said He would send the Holy Spirit in John 14:6, He used that same word. The Spirit of God now represents Jesus and also acts as our advocate. This means that if and when we sin—and repent, the Holy Spirit who acts on Jesus’ behalf acts on our behalf and pleads our case. It’s like a lawyer representing you in court. Our sin should invoke a penalty demanding a sacrificial offering of some kind, but Jesus had already done that for us. The paraklēte says that we are not guilty, because of Jesus. It is as if He says to the Father, “I dealt with that”.

This is what is called propitiation. It depends on our attitude of heart, or a word often despised… repentance.
If and when we goof off, immediately admit it and ask God for help in dealing with it and then get on with life. There is no intermediary; no priest; no confessional and penance because we have only One Great High Priest who is Jesus! Under such terms and conditions, what we see in 1 John 2:12-13 applies. Our sins are forgiven and we can overcome the wicked one, because we know the Father.

Many people say that when they sin, God seems remote. He is (because of that sin), but the split fraction of a second after you repent and ask forgiveness, you are fully restored. Why people keep on rebelling and disobeying and doing things that offend Him and then say that God doesn’t seem to answer their prayers like He once did, or why He does not talk to them as before amazes me. The solution is to fix it! Having said that, if it “aint” broke, don’t fix it. If we walk in the light as He is in the light and don’t goof off, there is no need to be concerned. I will deal more with this later.

In 1 John 3:1-3 we see that we are Now (not sometime in the future) the sons of God and know Him and that we purify ourselves whilst we look for Him.
Please note here that God says we shall be like Him!

Jesus was manifested to take away our sins and in Him is no sin. If He took them away—they are away—gone and forgotten! Think about it.
In verse 8, John states that Jesus was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. If He destroyed them, they are destroyed! What does this mean?  The word for destroy is lyō that means just what it says. It is like rust that eats away steel. Once that corrosion occurs, there is no steel left. The works or ergon (its Greek meaning from which we get the word energy) are the things he does. One word is occupation. If we look at it this way, that's the devil's "job". It is what he does, but Jesus took away all of the devil’s legal ability to do anything. Whatever he does now, is because believers are permitting it either by permission or omission.

We allow that to happen because of our sins that we commit because we allow the old nature to come back to life.  There is a bold statement in 1 John 3:9-
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

Many people have difficulty with this. I guess it is because they are looking at it from an intellectual viewpoint, or from the natural perspective, but we are not natural people. We are the sons of God as I just shared. Look at this from the Amplified version.
No one born (begotten) of God [deliberately, knowingly, and habitually] practices sin, for God's nature abides in him [His principle of life, the divine sperm, remains permanently within him]; and he cannot practice sinning because he is born (begotten) of God. 1 John 3:9

This means that we do not deliberately go around determining to do something that we know is sinning. We do not make it a habit. We do not make it a practice and this is exactly what John said.
Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God. 1 John 3:9

You can tell the pretend believers from the real ones by what John said in the next verse. Pretenders don’t care. They please themselves and live for themselves and do so out of the old flesh nature. They like the things of the world more than the things of God and when I say world, I refer to the way things are done in the world system. That’s where the devil operates. He is the god (lower case g) of this world.
 …Therefore, since God in his mercy has given us this new way, we never give up.
 We reject all shameful deeds and underhanded methods. We don’t try to trick anyone or distort the word of God. We tell the truth before God, and all who are honest know this.
 If the Good News we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is hidden only from people who are perishing.
 Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.
 You see, we don’t go around preaching about ourselves. We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we ourselves are your servants for Jesus’ sake.
 For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.
 We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. 2 Corinthians 4:1-7

I want to show you how we can deal with our sin and our guilt problem.

We shall would start with something Paul said-
 Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him,
 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, overflowing with gratitude.
 Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elemental forces of the world, and not based on Christ.
 For the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ, and you have been filled by Him, who is the head over every ruler and authority. Colossians 2:6-10

Verse 9 says that the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Jesus. He dwells in us and if He dwells in us, that fullness also dwells in us.
Verse 10 states that we are complete in Him! The Greek is plēroō that means complete.
It means to full up so much it is crammed to the brim. Peter’s net broke because it was full. It means that everything that could be possibly done was done and that we are in it! Let us see…
 For in Him the whole fullness of Deity (the Godhead) continues to dwell in bodily form [giving complete expression of the divine nature].
 And you are in Him, made full and having come to fullness of life [in Christ you too are filled with the Godhead—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—and reach full spiritual stature].
And He is the Head of all rule and authority [of every angelic principality and power].
 In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, but in a [spiritual] circumcision [performed by] Christ by stripping off the body of the flesh (the whole corrupt, carnal nature with its passions and lusts).
 [Thus you were circumcised when] you were buried with Him in [your] baptism, in which you were also raised with Him [to a new life] through [your] faith in the working of God [as displayed] when He raised Him up from the dead.
 And you who were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh (your sensuality, your sinful carnal nature), [God] brought to life together with [Christ], having [freely] forgiven us all our transgressions,
 Having cancelled and blotted out and wiped away the handwriting of the note (bond) with its legal decrees and demands which was in force and stood against us (hostile to us). This [note with its regulations, decrees, and demands] He set aside and cleared completely out of our way by nailing it to [His] cross.
 [God] disarmed the principalities and powers that were ranged against us and made a bold display and public example of them, in triumphing over them in Him and in it [the cross]. Colossians 2:9-15

You’re in Him, right? He’s in you right? When He said it is finished, it is finished, so what He did in you and in me is a done deal. What we have to do is know it and live in it. Verse 11 talks about circumcision and this is the cutting off of the old flesh nature that is now dead.

Because He is in us and the fullness of the Godhead is in us, we are no longer controlled by the old adamic nature that causes us to want to sin. We only do that because Adam is “resurrected” occasionally and the remedy is to keep him dead and buried. We know that Jesus died for us, but the tomb is empty and He is no longer on the cross. He was gloriously raised from the dead. When we identify with Him we are also raised… as He was.
According to verse 13, we who were dead in our sins and that uncircumcision of the flesh nature, were made alive in Jesus when He was raised. The phrase used is quickened together. God did it for us at the same time He did it to Jesus.
He did so, having forgiven us All trespasses. This has to be past, present and future...

I want to show you something that can liberate you.
 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.
 In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.
Colossians 2:14-15

You’re in Him, right? He’s in you right? When He said it is finished, it is finished, so what He did in you and in me is a done deal. What we have to do is know it and live in it. Verse 11 talks about circumcision and this is the cutting off of the old flesh nature that is now dead.

Because He is in us and the fullness of the Godhead is in us, we are no longer controlled by the old adamic nature that causes us to want to sin. We only do that because Adam is “resurrected” occasionally and the remedy is to keep him dead and buried. We know that Jesus died for us, but the tomb is empty and He is no longer on the cross. He was gloriously raised from the dead. When we identify with Him we are also raised… as He was.
According to verse 13, we who were dead in our sins and that uncircumcision of the flesh nature, were made alive in Jesus when He was raised. The phrase used is quickened together. God did it for us at the same time He did it to Jesus.
He did so, having forgiven us All trespasses. This has to be past, present and future...

I want to show you something that can liberate you.
 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.
 In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.
Colossians 2:14-15

Everything you did and everything I did was written down and kept on record. It was evidence that could be used against us in a court of law. The pages said, “You did this. You did that” and the record was true and accurate. We were guilty as charged. The death penalty applied.

The righteous judge had no option but to pronounce sentence, based on the evidence presented. One day the Son of God came and by what He did, God was able to wipe the slate clean.
 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.
 In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross. Colossians 2:14-15

The KJV puts it like this-

Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Colossians 2:14-15

What this means is this: The Greek word for blotting is exaleiphō and it means to obliterate; to wipe out, blot out and erase. The record sheet is totally empty. It is not even there, but I drew an empty box below to illustrate what God did for us. Previously, there was a record of our sins as seen here-

 Many people come under condemnation because of this record that is often used by the accuser of the brethren to keep reminding us of our shortcomings. If you have ever had an insidious voice inside you, that keeps saying something like “You did this” and “You did that” and “You are no good”, that is what I am speaking about. The righteous Judge never condemns like that. He measures us against the application of the Blood of Jesus. As He did on the first Passover He is looking for the applied blood and when He sees the Blood of Jesus on us, He deems us to be innocent.

The record that was held against you has not just been wiped clean, but erased; eradicated as if they had never existed. The record now looks like the blank box shown here.

Many years ago, I was having a sort of pity party and that is a dangerous thing. Never do that!

I was blubbering and bawling like a baby and asking God to please, please, please forgive me…. He replied, “What for?” I started off again, talking about something and He butted in asking me, “What are you talking about?” This continued for a while until I suddenly realized that God did not even know what I was talking about. That sin I had been begging Him to forgive had already been dealt with, but because the devil was pushing my guilt button and I started to think about it all, I dug it up out of the grave. Corpses stink! Sin stinks! That taught me how much God forgives—and forgets those things we repent of, ask forgiveness Once. If you ever repent and ask God to forgive you, then do not dare bring it up again. Deal with the thing. Fix what needs to be fixed. Do what you have to do. Stop doing what you need to quit and then leave it all dead and buried. If you do not, then you are calling God a liar and someone who harbours grudges and holds something against you. He is not like that!
Here are a few scriptures to emphasise what I just said. Psalm 85:2, 103:3, 12; 130:4; Isaiah 43:25, 44:22, 55:7: Micah 7:18; Acts 13:38; Ephesians 1:7; 1 John 1:9 and one you should know-
 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. Romans 8:1-9

I’ve got to finish off Colossians now and come to the crux of the message. Jesus spoiled the devil and his hordes and made a shew of them. That word is deigmatizō. Think of a battle where a king or a general won a great victory. The conqueror took the spoils of war and often brought the vanquished king or general back home and had a great victory parade. The winner often made his enemy kneel or fall on his face before him and placed his foot on the enemy’s neck. You know the story. That’s the kind of thing Jesus did and what is amazing is that the provision was made for us to enter into that victory. Sin no longer has dominion over us. God has made it possible for us to have dominion over it. If you read Isaiah 14:16, it is a good illustration. We can wonder, “Is that all he is?” when thinking of the devil. A great preacher testified of visiting a city for ministry and woke during the night and saw the devil standing at the foot of his bed. He said, “Oh, it’s you!”, rolled over and went back to sleep.Far too many believers give the devil more credit than he is due. It makes my blood boil when I hear Christians say that they are under attack. Scriptures that tell us we are seated with Christ in heavenly places and more than conquerors. Romans 16:20 that states-
And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen

One evening several years ago the Lord was speaking to me in a tone of voice that disturbed me. It was as if He was so angry that his nostrils flared as He spat out, “How dare they? How dare they?”  He was talking about Christians who keep saying that the devil is attacking them. I know that difficulties, problems and opposition comes our way, but most of our problems are in essence, self-inflicted. He kept speaking “They are as good as telling me that Calvary was not good enough” and that got me thinking. Please weigh up what I say. When Jesus died and was raised from the dead, God broke the stronghold that the devil had over men. Everything changed forever.

I have reached the place where I  can bring this to a practical conclusion.
Let us be real here. We all have things to contend with in life and it is not sin to be tempted. It becomes sin when we do what the flesh nature tells us. The devil does not have to whisper in our ears. He did that to Eve. The seed he panted in her has grown in human lives since then. All we have to do is not to do what that old Adam longs to do. I don’t need to spell it out. You know in your own heart where you stand. The issue is how to handle it.

The bible teaches us that the devil is on the prowl, looking for someone somewhere who has his or her guard down. He does not possess one of the attributes of God, namely the qualities of being ever present everywhere, knowing everything and possessing all power and authority. This means that the devil cannot be everywhere at once attacking you and attacking some other people. According to 1 Peter 5, he is wandering around seeking opportunity to function. Peter says that the solution is to resist him!  You cannot resist someone more powerful than yourself. James 4:7-8, tells us to submit ourselves to God and then resist the devil, who would flee from us. The key is submission to God. If we don’t do that, then the devil has a legal precedent that he may capitalize on. Don’t give him one!
We have revealed that Jesus stripped him of any legal claims and rights to function in a believer’s life. We know from Matthew 28:18 that all power is His. The Greek word for this power is Exousia and it relates to authority! If He possesses All authority, that means the devil doesn’t have any!
I ask you therefore how can the devil operate on the earth? As I stated before, he can only function when men permit him and because of the unsaved people here, they permit him to operate as the god of this earth and in that capacity he blinds them to the truth. That’s seen in 2 Corinthians 4:4. 

I want to show you something extraordinary. Look at the time Jesus appointed an additional 70 disciples and sent them on ministry assignments in Luke 10. On their return, they gave their reports, including a statement in verse 17 that even the devils were subject to them through His Name. That was before Calvary, so the key is being authorized by Jesus to do what He wants. That is speaking of His authority. Jesus never mentioned the devil or evil spirits when He sent them out! I’m touching on exercising our authority over evil spirits and casting them out now, but mentioned this to illustrate something. The Lord replied by telling them that He had given them power (Exousia) over all the power (Dynamis) of the enemy. If the devil has any power as in explosive force, those disciples were given that ability or authority to negate it!  On the Day of Pentecost Jesus’s followers were also given this dynamite force, so we now have the authority—and ability to live victoriously.

I will reiterate! Jesus has given you and me both the ability and the authority to deal with the sin issue in our lives. The devil and his cronies cannot touch us, provided we keep the love walk going and keep wearing the whole armour of God. Perhaps you may now see what He gets angry when believers keep confessing that they are under attack! There is creative power in our confessions and they can be Godly or negative confessions. You will have what you say, so if you keep saying that the devil is attacking you, you are giving him the legal rights to do so!

When he wanders around, probing here and probing there, searching for a weakness, all he has to do is push the button and keep walking and you do the rest. He never forced Eve to pick that piece of fruit. She did! He never forced that piece of fruit down her throat. She ate it! Your old flesh life is all he has to work with.
The solution is not to give him any tools or materials to work on and it is really that simple.
The question is how to go about it.

Have you ever had moments that you did something that you knew you shouldn’t have? Me too!
Have you had times when you knew that you should have done something but didn’t? Me too.
 

Each time, I feel terrible. We can say things like, “I goofed off again! Oh, no…I did it again. Oh dear, I should have done that and never did and blew it again.”

Paul was like that. Can you believe it? He said-
…the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin.
 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.
 But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good.
 So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t.
 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.
 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. Romans 7:14-20

Here it is. It is the sin living within us that causes all the problems. Paul knew this and added-
 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t.
 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.
 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.
 I love God’s law with all my heart.
 But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.
 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Romans 7:14-24

This is a common problem to us all. Whilst we struggle and strive with our old nature, we are going to fail and then sin and then feel remorse and then repent and then call out for help. God steps in and off we go until next time! Don’t blame the devil for your own shortcomings. I cringe when I hear peoples say that the devil made them do it. No! They did it and tried to do what happened in the garden. God knew what happened and wanted them to confess it, but everyone blamed everyone else. Eve said that the snake did it. Adam said, “That woman you gave me made me do it” and I feel sorry for the poor snake that had no one else to blame. If we are honest with ourselves, most times we go down the gurgler is because we wanted to do what we did.
 

This situation is common to all men who do not have the revelation of who we are in Christ, what He has already done for us in a completed work and what He has given us. Paul went on this merry-go-round also until the Holy Spirit told him, “Paul. You’re a dead man. Dead men do not sin.” When He saw it, Paul was released.
 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin. Romans 7:25

He saw what I shared in the earlier pages and realized that he was a dead man walking.

If you want the victory, that’s what you do. Tell that old man inside you, “You’re crucified with Christ. You’re dead” and then whenever the devil knocks on your door don’t open it. If he tries to whisper things in your ear, start saying what God says. He can’t handle “It is written” and “remember Calvary?” Tell him what the word of God says. That's what Jesus did when He was tempted and you know what happened then. Yes, the devilleft Him. You cannot say, “It is written” if you do not know what is written, so you know what to do.

Well saints, how do you feel now…an overcomer, or someone who is always licking your wounds? You are going to have plenty of opportunities to fail, but choose not to.

Blessings,

Robert

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