"Escaping" from Sin...

Back on the topic from a few days ago about our sin nature and "how" to escape sin especially any hard footholds the devil may have on us after we have become believers...

I was reading 2 Peter this morning after listening to a Podcast from Pastor Jerry on walking in this world as citizens of Heaven rather than blending in as citizens on earth... ANYWAY.... Chapter 1, Verse 2 starts out as this:

"Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the KNOWLEDGE of God and of Jesus our Lord;"

So, right there I am reading that we will recieve GRACE and PEACE through KNOWING God & Jesus. I read the next few verses which I was reading last night and wanting to chew up a little, but let me first skip down to verse 10 which made me go back to thinking about this topic. LISTEN TO THIS!!!!

"Therefore, bretheren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, YOU WILL NEVER STUMBLE;"

Did you read that last part? As long as you practice these things, YOU WILL NEVER STUMBLE! Okay, so the answer we are looking for is in there--- practicing "these things"... what were "these things"? So, rewind to the middle verses:

2 Peter 1:3-9

"seeing that His divine POWER has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

Now for this very reason also,applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self control, and in your self control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness,

and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.

For in these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins."

See why that was so much? Because looking at it in that big a chunk is overwhelming. And, because it seems like those things are just things to HAVE, but HOW? It goes right back to the same SIN question- HOW to escape from sin's hold??? But I think ONE major answer is way back up in the first verse I included, 2 Peter 1:2- the KNOWLEDGE.... How do we get knowledge of God and Jesus? Easy answer = being in the word. And the next verse is REALLY REALLY COOL- "seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us..." He has given us EVERYTHING pertaining to LIFE and GODLINESS THROUGH what? "The True KNOWLEDGE"- It's all in the Bible! EVERYTHING we need is in there.... And, I am confident THAT is our answer! Then I think the next verse is explaining it even further: "by these He has granted to us His precious and Magnificent promises so that by them (BY THE PROMISES > IN HIS WORD) you may become partakers of the divine nature--- (GET THIS) Having ESCAPED the corruption that is in the world by lust." And we already know "Lust" leads to "SIN"! So- his promises in the WORD are the answer to escaping LUST! And, I believe all the rest will come as we pursue His promises. Diligence, moral excellence, knowledge, self control, perseverance, godliness, kindness, love!!!!! They are so similar and even overlapping to the fruit of the spirit.

I have to go wake up Tabby for school but what AMAZING ANSWERS right from God- HE IS SO GOOD!!!!!

Just LOVE it!!!!

"It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him;

If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us;

If we are FAITHLESS, He remains FAITHFUL, for He cannot deny Himself."

2 Timothy 2:12-13

HOW AWESOME IS THAT?! God is so good. He shows me the most awesome passages! I love it! If we are FAITHLESS; and I know there are days where I don't feel like the most FAITH FILLED person- but it doesn't matter- because HE REMAINS FAITHFUL!!!!! My human- ness... my bad days don't change HIS LOVE for me- they never could because HE REMAINS FAITHFUL! How magnificent!!! And, for the Faithless in God, it doesn't matter because HIS PROMISES remains TRUE! It's a constant- no matter what happens with us- HIS WORD is TRUTH! How comforting is that?! LOVE IT! :)

My Last Reading Day...

I just got back from Tabby's school and walked into an empty house! I am NEVER EVER EVER alone so this is REALLY strange! LOL I don't even remember the last time I was ALONE. Anyway, school ends next Friday so today was my last day volunteering in Tabby's room. Every other Tuesday I would come in to read to the kids and Kevin would do alternating Tuesday's. Then we stayed and had lunch with Tabby and her class in the cafeteria. I really treasure these days. I know not all schools and not all years will I have the opportunity to do this and I am delighted to tears that I am fortunate enough to be able to come into her class and spend some time with Tabby at school. They are growing up so fast and my Tabby will be in second grade soon. I looked at all those little first graders and they are still so little and sweet. But these days are turning so quickly into weeks into months into years and I need to step back and enjoy them. Tabby is such a sweet light in my life. I thank God so much for letting me be her mom. I am so fortunate to be able to spend time with each of my girls. My heart is so full of love for my family. A lady in the lunch room told me she asked Tabby if she ever had a bad day and her answer was "No!" That's my Joyful Tabby! SO FULL of JOY and LOVE and LIFE!!!!! Well.... everyone's home now... back to real life! ;)

Obeying Sin...

So, I've been parked in Romans since yesterday- Romans 6:12 and Romans 6:16. Yesterday, in church at New Hope Pastor Paul wasn't there and Clint was teaching. He was in Romans and talking about sin having a foothold in the life of the believer and that we must believe that once we give our life to Jesus and surrender, sin won't have a hold on us and we have the ability to overcome any sin. And, the key is believing. That was the one thing that seemed a little unsettling to me since yesterday. Where is the HOW? Then, in my mind I keep replaying something I heard while listening to Pastor Jerry on a podcast this week from around Easter. Here's the quote; "We do not OBEY God because we do not TRUST God. We do not TRUST God because we do not KNOW God." WOW!!!! I LOVE Pastor Jerry's nuggets. I wish there was a book with all of them! Anyway, then read Romans 6:12- "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you OBEY its lusts" And this is what is popping into my head- Are we locked in OBEDIENCE to our sin because we are TRUSTING our sin because we are KNOWING our sin MORE than we KNOW God?!?! Our sin has been there our whole life. Our sin is comfortable. Our sin is familiar. Where is God? How do we make God become more comfortable than our sin? I think the answer is in the Word. Pastor Jerry made a point about people trust what they see on TV because TV is trusted because it's something they know. So, what is reigning in my life? Is my TV in my life more than my Bible??? Insert whatever into that sentence. It's a pretty powerful thought. Am I letting something, anything become more familiar to me than God- which leads to trust - which leads to obedience. Would OBEDIENCE to God become far easier the more I TRUST in Him, the more I KNOW Him. So, where does KNOWLEDGE come from? His Word and prayer. The answer to overcoming sin for me becomes obvious; it's in His Word, prayer and finally surrendering DAILY to Him. It's KNOWING, building TRUST and finally OBEDIENCE. And after having this bounce around in my head a little, I read Romans 6:16; "Do you know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for OBEDIENCE, you are slaves of the one whom you OBEY, either of SIN resulting in DEATH, or of OBEDIENCE resulting in RIGHTEOUSNESS?" I know I want to be a slave to the one who brings Righteousness- not the one who brings Death.