I think it’s possible through intimacy with God. At least that was starting to become a reality when I shut off the T.V.’s and the internet, spending 6-8 hours a day studying The Word, works by other Christian leaders, praying, and my own praise and worship time, that I’d be so over come by His presence I could barely sing because the tears were flowing!
I felt as though I saw the world in a whole different light. It wasn’t a struggle to look at people with love, I began to lose interest in the sins of my past, such as drug use and an addiction to pornagraphy. I use to have bad depression and social anxiety, which I was on 3 different meds. for, now down to 1, barely taking it, though.
It all started to improve, and I really felt as though I was taking on the characteristics of God … not saying I was a God. I really started to become molded into a new man.
But then I began wanting things on my time table, not God’s, grew impatient and started doing things my way. Something I never desired in the past became desirable, witchcraft, which members of my family had been into before, sister, aunt.
What appealed to me was stories I had heard of those who were into Satanism, who were able to conjure up demonic spirits to look like the women of their dreams. I began researching how to summon a succubus demon. It showed up, but not as some beautiful women, usually in nightmares, or I’d be woken up, but still sleeping in the physical, unable to move. I sometimes saw just this black shadow person, and became very fearful! All I could do was cry out to Jesus, which I heard an audible reply, “He doesn’t hear you!”
I did end up repenting! But I’ve been trying to retain that first love. After grieving The Holy Spirit, it seems as though it has been much more difficult to obtain what I once had with God.
One of the best book that deals with the above issues on the radio show today could be answered by this book, specifically this book called Kingdom,Power, and Glory by Chuck nad Nancy Miller deals with the issue of sanctification in our lives. Check it out Bothers and Sisters in the below website http://kingshighway.org/kingdom/KPG_Article_1_2010.htm
I think this is possible to live without sinning. Does it not say that your sinful and lustful desires are ccrucified with Christ. Jesus was crucifiedonce and once we decide to live for God and repent of our sins and confess Jesus we are saved and our old nature dies. This means all the desires to sin simply is just spiritual warfare. It is not in our nature to sin anymore because God takes that out of us…if I am looking at this correctly anyways. You can say no to temptation and live sin free. But if we sin we know that there is our heavenly father by His death on the cross which forgives us. Psalms I believe also says Blessed is he whos sins are forgiven.
First of all, we need to understand what sin is, 1 John 3:4 I think we have broadened the definition of sin, even to include things that in itself are not a sin according to the Word. This makes life often complicated and discouraging for many. When we become believers in Jesus The Messiah, we ask him to give us his Holy Spirit, that is, that he plants his Torah within our heart, which is God power to overcome the stronghold of the flesh. This is a joyful inward transformation, powered by the Spirit of Life in the Messiah. If we focus on what the Bible calls “the good things”, we will find that which is good and acceptable, the perfect will of God.
Parallel question – Is it possible for the believer to live without sickness?
I’m just reading Bosworth again [Christ the Healer], who argues from scripture that healing is integral to the Gospel, not peripheral to it. Jesus is equally concerned for spiritual & physical wellbeing and provided for both at the cross [Isaiah 53].
If 80% of new believers in Third World are switched on to the Gospel through healing or deliverance encounters, is it surprising that we see much less fruit in the West? Bosworth reckons that the healing factor drew most people to his meetings and that many were both saved & healed.
Can you please address the question as to why there is so much sickness in the church today, let alone the world at large. Is Jesus Saviour & Healer? Why, when & how?
I know it is possible to live this life and sin not,The Word tells us clearly to go and sin no more least a worse thing come unto you. You either believe the Word or you don’t, there is a lot of justifying going on…of that subject in particular.If you follow Jesus closely and not a far off…and as David said set a guard upon my lips o Lord that I will not sin against you.I believe we must guard our gates…the mind,ears,heart,mouth, all the areas of which we must protect our selves…Father God said (Proverbs 4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. You protect your heart with all diligence…YOU…watch what you see,hear,do,your acts,goings,doings..you watch them, to be very careful..to do what is right in HISSSSSSSS sight not yours,or friends or your moms..HIS sight of what is Right and Righteous and well pleasing to HIM.Sin is a choice just like Righteousness is a choice…we make or don’t make,by the Holy Spirit of God within us He does the Work,re-read Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.Appropriate that…take exclusive posession of it,Believe it.Fear God and depart from Evil…keep the fear of God,continue IN the Fear of God..continue in God,HIS Word,HIs Son,His Spirit…to the end tnen ye shall be saved.Matthew 10:22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. Matthew 10:21-23 Mark 13:13 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.Hebrews 10:26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,and Jesus said to us…to all,to whosoever will..listen..John 5:14 Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.This is in the New Testatment for those who always tell me oh that’s old Testament…no its not.The Word is the Word,old and New..God is the Word..all of it.Sin is a choice…righteousness is a choice..think about it..this is for me,you,whosoever will..believe..if God shows it to you today..its for you now.Deuteronomy 30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.This is not my opinion,Its what the Word tells us.God knows if you make a mistake or if you just sin,He knows allllllllllllll.Be honest to God He already knows all.Romans 14:23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.1 Corinthians 15:34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.Ephesians 4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:James 4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.1 John 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: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.John 15:22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin.You go look up the Scriptures on the word sin, there are many.You study to show yourself approved…amen!
Jesse,
I often teach that while the Lord can restore the years the locusts have eaten (Joel 2:25), there is no need for Christians to bank on this by setting an all you can eat buffet for those demons.
And you have done well by making a decision to repent – amazing how those demons just have to flee.
Restoration may take some time- your “spiritual body” has been beaten up pretty bad. Stay in the Word. Don’t waver. In fact- this one’s for you:
Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame. Isaiah 50:7
And this passage is simply amazing -for you- in the Message pataphrase:
4-9The Master, God, has given me a well-taught tongue, So I know how to encourage tired people. He wakes me up in the morning, Wakes me up, opens my ears to listen as one ready to take orders. The Master, God, opened my ears, and I didn’t go back to sleep, didn’t pull the covers back over my head. I followed orders, stood there and took it while they beat me, held steady while they pulled out my beard, Didn’t dodge their insults, faced them as they spit in my face. And the Master, God, stays right there and helps me, so I’m not disgraced. Therefore I set my face like flint, confident that I’ll never regret this. My champion is right here. Let’s take our stand together! Who dares bring suit against me? Let him try! Look! the Master, God, is right here. Who would dare call me guilty? Look! My accusers are a clothes bin of threadbare socks and shirts, fodder for moths!
Also enlist some intercessors to pray for you daily if possible. The Locust Buffet is offically closed!
I think it is possible to live sin-free and also Jesus Him-self commanded others, who He healed or delivered, to go and sin no more. How is that different today?
Dr. Brown, you never quite answered Matthew 5:48 where it says to “be perfect.” What are your views in regards to this scripture?
I believe that you can go through life without practicing sin.But I do not believe you can go through life without ever commiting a sin now and then.
I can only speak of my own life and experience as well as what I’ve learned through study of God’s word.
I think it is definitely possible, but I think we’re on a journey in which we are able to discover more and more levels of sin which we were not heretofore aware of. I know it is God’s Holy Spirit which makes this awareness possible. He searches our hearts and makes us aware of what we hide even from ourselves.
I know that after my baptism and surrender to the Lord that my tastes changed and my desires changed, and I really became a “new creature” and because He lives within me, what is repugnant to Him is repugnant to me, in a real sense. So His Spirit counsels and makes me aware and guides me yet.
I used to wrestle with the flesh, so to speak, until I realized one moment that Jesus said He had already overcome the world — this was a turning point in my understanding — I no longer wrestle — I let the Holy Spirit within fight to keep me in the right frame of being. By staying connected to Him through prayer and meditation and study of His word, I am connected to the power of the Spirit, which is mightier than the flesh and the world, etc. So instead of me struggling with my own nature, I’ve let Him live within, and He wars. He alone is strong enough to do this, because He has already overcome. So the sinner need never really despair that “I can’t overcome this,” as I used to do. And I know that pain well — I remember the agony of shame I endured when I “fell” despite my better intentions.
I sometimes think of what Sir Isaac Newton wrote (who was a believer, btw): “For every action there is an opposite and equal reaction.” I think of how oppositional forces actually attract — like that which we resist is attracted to us, and so, in a never-ending struggle between equal and opposing forces, the struggle goes on and on and on. I think that is the state that many find themselves in, and I know I found myself in that state many times over many years.
What really broke the cyle was my decision to fully surrender my life to God. Baptism really was key. It gave me a fresh start and a renewed spirit, and after that, I felt empowered (not through my own efforts, but) by His resident Spirit to overcome. And all I can testify is that YES This works! Issues I had struggled by myself to overcome for YEARS and never could became NO PROBLEM anymore because God is all-powerful ~ and when the Spirit wars, it is not a contest between “equal and opposing” forces — but between the all-powerful and whatever would oppose Him! And He wins — every time — so let the Spirit war on your behalf and vanquish sin. If you don’t already, surrender your life to Him, be baptized in the Name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit and be cleansed, healed, forgiven, given a new life, and you will notice how those old thorns in your flesh which you thought you couldn’t change will no longer bother you.
If you have done this before but feel you’ve flagged, you can be renewed with true repentance and washed again; indeed, we all have to, daily, hourly, because we all fall short. But can we be overcomers and spend our lives as sinlessly as possible — YES — this is not an empty promise He makes!
May you be blessed today! (o:
I would like to hear an answer on the question of adultery that was asked. Does God forgive adultery and allow the couple to stay together or would they have to separate? I recall Davids sin of adultery and the fact that his son solomon became king. But am interested in Dr Browns thought on this. Are my questions too hard? I never get an answer. Blessings
James, I can’t give a categorical answer to the adultery-divorce question, only because I don’t know the depth of God’s mercy, but I would say this: They must first recognize their sin, separate from sexual activity, and cry out to God in repentance, asking for forgiveness, whatever that would mean. If it’s impossible to go back and fix the past and if God releases them to go on, that’s His business. Otherwise, I’d be concerned about their spiritual state.
Oops! I jumped the gun…sorry. Thanks, God bless
I ran from ministry for years because I failed miserably and married out of rebellion when i was 18. The marriage failed and I married someone who had done the same thing.
I’ve been told I was an adulterer and would never be able to be Gods best again. Now 22 years and 3 children later we are trying as hard as we know how and still find ourselves being condemned by certain groups of people. ( Free Holiness ) My wife was raised AOG.
In 1985 I hung myself over all the religious condemnation and was actually dead when I was found in my parents garage and mercifully brought back…THANK GOD! I had been convinced I had gone too far yet God was always dealing with me to repent. I was so confused I just gave up and become a drunk for more than 12 years.
I know Gods word says in Psalm 51:3 my sin is ever before me and Prov. 6:32,33 an adulterer destroys his own soul and his reproach shall not be wiped away, but is there ever any peace after repentance from this?
Just when I feel as if I’m over the hump I hear someone like this guy from Jacksonville and all those voices feel like a dark cloud of deadly arrows being shot at me all over again. I backslid and stopped preaching for many years but 4 years ago have been working to obey God in everything I do, I even began preaching again when asked and gave up my lead guitar gig for a family country show I was playing in. Sure could use a mentor, someone who knows God and the voice of the Holy Spirit more than church dogma. I covet your prayers. God just healed me from Myasthenia Gravis and the Devil is working over time to try and steal the blessing of God from our lives.
Let’s never get discouraged but keep going with the Lord. Just as a soldier who finds out through sin that he broke his oath to obey the orders of those above his rank, and finds that what he had has been lost, and was very valuable, he can in time get it back, though it may be that he may carry the pain of how he fell for quite some time. That’s his burden to carry, but I do believe he can get it all back and then some.
When we fall, we are never the same. The same goes for when God restores. When God restores something, it seems to me that he makes it better than it was before, though it can be a painful and long process for us.
I like to watch the TV programs where old cars are restored. What they put into them is newer and better, making them better than before even though they will never be exactly as they were before. We can’t stay the same, can we? It seems to me that we will always be changed.
Like a car it seems that we either get older, rustier, or get resored. God makes us whatever he will make us.
Thank you Ray. Blessings. This truly has been encouraging.
To Mike (Lincoln, UK) It is possible to live without being bound in sickness. Sickness is often an infirmaty (weakness) and the Bible does claim in Isaiah that by his stripes we are healed. So once you start feeling sick or pain rebuke the spirit of infirmity, claim God’s word over your life and you will be healed. One of the problems in the western world is that we only believe that Jesus died to forgive our sins…forgetting that He died also to heal us and make us whole…that would include healig our sickness. We rely entirely too much on medicine and not enough on the power of God. Also scientific studies are proving (oral roberts university being on of them) that if you pray several minutes a day in tongues you will be more physically healthy because you spirit man sustains and strengthens your physical body…Hope this helps answer your question.
I have read your excellent book “Go and Sin no More”. In the book you give both reasons not to sin as well as techniques to avoid sin. You talk about the power of grace to enable the overcoming of sin and cite the example of your own life.
Here is my question. Many ministers/pastors have a problem with pornography. I know one pastor who councils other pastors and acts as an accountability partner to them (e.g. he receives and internet logs from thier computers). Clearly these men love the Lord, yet they are using techniques born in human effort to overcome this sin (accountability software etc.). Where is the power of God in their lives? If they go before the Lord and fast and pray and sincerely ask Him to free them of this sin–Why doesn’t He? It seems that the power of grace you experienced in your addiction to drugs is not found by everyone. Can you explain this?
Dr. Brown;
I have a couple more comments regarding my last post. If I understand you correctly the strength you found to make a clean break from drugs you attribute to the Lord. I assume you do not lie awake at night thinking about the high you used to get when shooting heroin such that you are tempted to go out and shoot up again. I have heard similar stories where the Lord instantaneously freed people from their addictions.
Yet, there are also people who despite going before the Lord with heart-felt desperation continue for YEARS to wrestle with addiction. A few years ago, a fellow from Teen Challenge came to my door. He admitted that despite months of a live in program, he was tempted to go back to doing drugs. So again I ask why does God free some but not all? Why were you freed while this man was not? Now you may argue that it is by the Grace of God that he was not currently using drugs, but can one truely know the joy of the Lord while experiencing a daily battle of this magnitude? Why does the Lord free some from such battles and leave others in a state of constant struggle? Is that real freedom?
I have heard it taught that man will never overcome his sin with his own effort. I heard one Pastor say that overcoming sin with human effort is like trying to move a clipper ship with an oar, only the the power of the Holy Spirit can fill the sails and move the ship. But if this is true, then why do so many Christian programs that deal with addictive behavior borrow techniques from the world, instead of just finding the supernatural Grace of God to enable them to overcome their sins? And once again why don’t all who seek this grace seem to find it?
I think it’s possible through intimacy with God. At least that was starting to become a reality when I shut off the T.V.’s and the internet, spending 6-8 hours a day studying The Word, works by other Christian leaders, praying, and my own praise and worship time, that I’d be so over come by His presence I could barely sing because the tears were flowing!
I felt as though I saw the world in a whole different light. It wasn’t a struggle to look at people with love, I began to lose interest in the sins of my past, such as drug use and an addiction to pornagraphy. I use to have bad depression and social anxiety, which I was on 3 different meds. for, now down to 1, barely taking it, though.
It all started to improve, and I really felt as though I was taking on the characteristics of God … not saying I was a God. I really started to become molded into a new man.
But then I began wanting things on my time table, not God’s, grew impatient and started doing things my way. Something I never desired in the past became desirable, witchcraft, which members of my family had been into before, sister, aunt.
What appealed to me was stories I had heard of those who were into Satanism, who were able to conjure up demonic spirits to look like the women of their dreams. I began researching how to summon a succubus demon. It showed up, but not as some beautiful women, usually in nightmares, or I’d be woken up, but still sleeping in the physical, unable to move. I sometimes saw just this black shadow person, and became very fearful! All I could do was cry out to Jesus, which I heard an audible reply, “He doesn’t hear you!”
I did end up repenting! But I’ve been trying to retain that first love. After grieving The Holy Spirit, it seems as though it has been much more difficult to obtain what I once had with God.
One of the best book that deals with the above issues on the radio show today could be answered by this book, specifically this book called Kingdom,Power, and Glory by Chuck nad Nancy Miller deals with the issue of sanctification in our lives. Check it out Bothers and Sisters in the below website http://kingshighway.org/kingdom/KPG_Article_1_2010.htm
I think this is possible to live without sinning. Does it not say that your sinful and lustful desires are ccrucified with Christ. Jesus was crucifiedonce and once we decide to live for God and repent of our sins and confess Jesus we are saved and our old nature dies. This means all the desires to sin simply is just spiritual warfare. It is not in our nature to sin anymore because God takes that out of us…if I am looking at this correctly anyways. You can say no to temptation and live sin free. But if we sin we know that there is our heavenly father by His death on the cross which forgives us. Psalms I believe also says Blessed is he whos sins are forgiven.
First of all, we need to understand what sin is, 1 John 3:4
I think we have broadened the definition of sin, even to include things that in itself are not a sin according to the Word. This makes life often complicated and discouraging for many. When we become believers in Jesus The Messiah, we ask him to give us his Holy Spirit, that is, that he plants his Torah within our heart, which is God power to overcome the stronghold of the flesh. This is a joyful inward transformation, powered by the Spirit of Life in the Messiah. If we focus on what the Bible calls “the good things”, we will find that which is good and acceptable, the perfect will of God.
Parallel question – Is it possible for the believer to live without sickness?
I’m just reading Bosworth again [Christ the Healer], who argues from scripture that healing is integral to the Gospel, not peripheral to it. Jesus is equally concerned for spiritual & physical wellbeing and provided for both at the cross [Isaiah 53].
If 80% of new believers in Third World are switched on to the Gospel through healing or deliverance encounters, is it surprising that we see much less fruit in the West? Bosworth reckons that the healing factor drew most people to his meetings and that many were both saved & healed.
Can you please address the question as to why there is so much sickness in the church today, let alone the world at large. Is Jesus Saviour & Healer? Why, when & how?
I know it is possible to live this life and sin not,The Word tells us clearly to go and sin no more least a worse thing come unto you. You either believe the Word or you don’t, there is a lot of justifying going on…of that subject in particular.If you follow Jesus closely and not a far off…and as David said set a guard upon my lips o Lord that I will not sin against you.I believe we must guard our gates…the mind,ears,heart,mouth, all the areas of which we must protect our selves…Father God said (Proverbs 4:23
Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. You protect your heart with all diligence…YOU…watch what you see,hear,do,your acts,goings,doings..you watch them, to be very careful..to do what is right in HISSSSSSSS sight not yours,or friends or your moms..HIS sight of what is Right and Righteous and well pleasing to HIM.Sin is a choice just like Righteousness is a choice…we make or don’t make,by the Holy Spirit of God within us He does the Work,re-read Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.Appropriate that…take exclusive posession of it,Believe it.Fear God and depart from Evil…keep the fear of God,continue IN the Fear of God..continue in God,HIS Word,HIs Son,His Spirit…to the end tnen ye shall be saved.Matthew 10:22
And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
Matthew 10:21-23
Mark 13:13
And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.Hebrews 10:26
For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,and Jesus said to us…to all,to whosoever will..listen..John 5:14
Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.This is in the New Testatment for those who always tell me oh that’s old Testament…no its not.The Word is the Word,old and New..God is the Word..all of it.Sin is a choice…righteousness is a choice..think about it..this is for me,you,whosoever will..believe..if God shows it to you today..its for you now.Deuteronomy 30:19
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.This is not my opinion,Its what the Word tells us.God knows if you make a mistake or if you just sin,He knows allllllllllllll.Be honest to God He already knows all.Romans 14:23
And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.1 Corinthians 15:34
Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.Ephesians 4:26
Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:James 4:17
Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.1 John 2:1
My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: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.John 15:22
If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin.You go look up the Scriptures on the word sin, there are many.You study to show yourself approved…amen!
Jesse,
I often teach that while the Lord can restore the years the locusts have eaten (Joel 2:25), there is no need for Christians to bank on this by setting an all you can eat buffet for those demons.
And you have done well by making a decision to repent – amazing how those demons just have to flee.
Restoration may take some time- your “spiritual body” has been beaten up pretty bad. Stay in the Word. Don’t waver. In fact- this one’s for you:
Because the Sovereign LORD helps me,
I will not be disgraced.
Therefore have I set my face like flint,
and I know I will not be put to shame.
Isaiah 50:7
And this passage is simply amazing -for you- in the Message pataphrase:
4-9The Master, God, has given me
a well-taught tongue,
So I know how to encourage tired people.
He wakes me up in the morning,
Wakes me up, opens my ears
to listen as one ready to take orders.
The Master, God, opened my ears,
and I didn’t go back to sleep,
didn’t pull the covers back over my head.
I followed orders,
stood there and took it while they beat me,
held steady while they pulled out my beard,
Didn’t dodge their insults,
faced them as they spit in my face.
And the Master, God, stays right there and helps me,
so I’m not disgraced.
Therefore I set my face like flint,
confident that I’ll never regret this.
My champion is right here.
Let’s take our stand together!
Who dares bring suit against me?
Let him try!
Look! the Master, God, is right here.
Who would dare call me guilty?
Look! My accusers are a clothes bin of threadbare
socks and shirts, fodder for moths!
Also enlist some intercessors to pray for you daily if possible. The Locust Buffet is offically closed!
I think it is possible to live sin-free and also Jesus Him-self commanded others, who He healed or delivered, to go and sin no more. How is that different today?
Dr. Brown, you never quite answered Matthew 5:48 where it says to “be perfect.” What are your views in regards to this scripture?
I believe that you can go through life without practicing sin.But I do not believe you can go through life without ever commiting a sin now and then.
I can only speak of my own life and experience as well as what I’ve learned through study of God’s word.
I think it is definitely possible, but I think we’re on a journey in which we are able to discover more and more levels of sin which we were not heretofore aware of. I know it is God’s Holy Spirit which makes this awareness possible. He searches our hearts and makes us aware of what we hide even from ourselves.
I know that after my baptism and surrender to the Lord that my tastes changed and my desires changed, and I really became a “new creature” and because He lives within me, what is repugnant to Him is repugnant to me, in a real sense. So His Spirit counsels and makes me aware and guides me yet.
I used to wrestle with the flesh, so to speak, until I realized one moment that Jesus said He had already overcome the world — this was a turning point in my understanding — I no longer wrestle — I let the Holy Spirit within fight to keep me in the right frame of being. By staying connected to Him through prayer and meditation and study of His word, I am connected to the power of the Spirit, which is mightier than the flesh and the world, etc. So instead of me struggling with my own nature, I’ve let Him live within, and He wars. He alone is strong enough to do this, because He has already overcome. So the sinner need never really despair that “I can’t overcome this,” as I used to do. And I know that pain well — I remember the agony of shame I endured when I “fell” despite my better intentions.
I sometimes think of what Sir Isaac Newton wrote (who was a believer, btw): “For every action there is an opposite and equal reaction.” I think of how oppositional forces actually attract — like that which we resist is attracted to us, and so, in a never-ending struggle between equal and opposing forces, the struggle goes on and on and on. I think that is the state that many find themselves in, and I know I found myself in that state many times over many years.
What really broke the cyle was my decision to fully surrender my life to God. Baptism really was key. It gave me a fresh start and a renewed spirit, and after that, I felt empowered (not through my own efforts, but) by His resident Spirit to overcome. And all I can testify is that YES This works! Issues I had struggled by myself to overcome for YEARS and never could became NO PROBLEM anymore because God is all-powerful ~ and when the Spirit wars, it is not a contest between “equal and opposing” forces — but between the all-powerful and whatever would oppose Him! And He wins — every time — so let the Spirit war on your behalf and vanquish sin. If you don’t already, surrender your life to Him, be baptized in the Name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit and be cleansed, healed, forgiven, given a new life, and you will notice how those old thorns in your flesh which you thought you couldn’t change will no longer bother you.
If you have done this before but feel you’ve flagged, you can be renewed with true repentance and washed again; indeed, we all have to, daily, hourly, because we all fall short. But can we be overcomers and spend our lives as sinlessly as possible — YES — this is not an empty promise He makes!
May you be blessed today! (o:
I would like to hear an answer on the question of adultery that was asked. Does God forgive adultery and allow the couple to stay together or would they have to separate? I recall Davids sin of adultery and the fact that his son solomon became king. But am interested in Dr Browns thought on this. Are my questions too hard? I never get an answer. Blessings
James, I can’t give a categorical answer to the adultery-divorce question, only because I don’t know the depth of God’s mercy, but I would say this: They must first recognize their sin, separate from sexual activity, and cry out to God in repentance, asking for forgiveness, whatever that would mean. If it’s impossible to go back and fix the past and if God releases them to go on, that’s His business. Otherwise, I’d be concerned about their spiritual state.
Oops! I jumped the gun…sorry. Thanks, God bless
I ran from ministry for years because I failed miserably and married out of rebellion when i was 18. The marriage failed and I married someone who had done the same thing.
I’ve been told I was an adulterer and would never be able to be Gods best again. Now 22 years and 3 children later we are trying as hard as we know how and still find ourselves being condemned by certain groups of people. ( Free Holiness ) My wife was raised AOG.
In 1985 I hung myself over all the religious condemnation and was actually dead when I was found in my parents garage and mercifully brought back…THANK GOD! I had been convinced I had gone too far yet God was always dealing with me to repent. I was so confused I just gave up and become a drunk for more than 12 years.
I know Gods word says in Psalm 51:3 my sin is ever before me and Prov. 6:32,33 an adulterer destroys his own soul and his reproach shall not be wiped away, but is there ever any peace after repentance from this?
Just when I feel as if I’m over the hump I hear someone like this guy from Jacksonville and all those voices feel like a dark cloud of deadly arrows being shot at me all over again. I backslid and stopped preaching for many years but 4 years ago have been working to obey God in everything I do, I even began preaching again when asked and gave up my lead guitar gig for a family country show I was playing in. Sure could use a mentor, someone who knows God and the voice of the Holy Spirit more than church dogma. I covet your prayers. God just healed me from Myasthenia Gravis and the Devil is working over time to try and steal the blessing of God from our lives.
Let’s never get discouraged but keep going with the Lord. Just as a soldier who finds out through sin that he broke his oath to obey the orders of those above his rank, and finds that what he had has been lost, and was very valuable, he can in time get it back, though it may be that he may carry the pain of how he fell for quite some time. That’s his burden to carry, but I do believe he can get it all back and then some.
When we fall, we are never the same. The same goes for when God restores. When God restores something, it seems to me that he makes it better than it was before, though it can be a painful and
long process for us.
I like to watch the TV programs where old cars are restored. What they put into them is newer and better, making them better than before even though they will never be exactly as they were before. We can’t stay the same, can we? It seems to me that we will always be changed.
Like a car it seems that we either get older, rustier, or get resored. God makes us whatever he will make us.
Thank you Ray. Blessings. This truly has been encouraging.
To Mike (Lincoln, UK) It is possible to live without being bound in sickness. Sickness is often an infirmaty (weakness) and the Bible does claim in Isaiah that by his stripes we are healed. So once you start feeling sick or pain rebuke the spirit of infirmity, claim God’s word over your life and you will be healed. One of the problems in the western world is that we only believe that Jesus died to forgive our sins…forgetting that He died also to heal us and make us whole…that would include healig our sickness. We rely entirely too much on medicine and not enough on the power of God. Also scientific studies are proving (oral roberts university being on of them) that if you pray several minutes a day in tongues you will be more physically healthy because you spirit man sustains and strengthens your physical body…Hope this helps answer your question.
Here is a message that defines what Biblical Perfection is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDEzXfN2ErI
Dr. Brown;
I have read your excellent book “Go and Sin no More”. In the book you give both reasons not to sin as well as techniques to avoid sin. You talk about the power of grace to enable the overcoming of sin and cite the example of your own life.
Here is my question. Many ministers/pastors have a problem with pornography. I know one pastor who councils other pastors and acts as an accountability partner to them (e.g. he receives and internet logs from thier computers). Clearly these men love the Lord, yet they are using techniques born in human effort to overcome this sin (accountability software etc.). Where is the power of God in their lives? If they go before the Lord and fast and pray and sincerely ask Him to free them of this sin–Why doesn’t He? It seems that the power of grace you experienced in your addiction to drugs is not found by everyone. Can you explain this?
Dr. Brown;
I have a couple more comments regarding my last post. If I understand you correctly the strength you found to make a clean break from drugs you attribute to the Lord. I assume you do not lie awake at night thinking about the high you used to get when shooting heroin such that you are tempted to go out and shoot up again. I have heard similar stories where the Lord instantaneously freed people from their addictions.
Yet, there are also people who despite going before the Lord with heart-felt desperation continue for YEARS to wrestle with addiction. A few years ago, a fellow from Teen Challenge came to my door. He admitted that despite months of a live in program, he was tempted to go back to doing drugs. So again I ask why does God free some but not all? Why were you freed while this man was not? Now you may argue that it is by the Grace of God that he was not currently using drugs, but can one truely know the joy of the Lord while experiencing a daily battle of this magnitude? Why does the Lord free some from such battles and leave others in a state of constant struggle? Is that real freedom?
I have heard it taught that man will never overcome his sin with his own effort. I heard one Pastor say that overcoming sin with human effort is like trying to move a clipper ship with an oar, only the the power of the Holy Spirit can fill the sails and move the ship. But if this is true, then why do so many Christian programs that deal with addictive behavior borrow techniques from the world, instead of just finding the supernatural Grace of God to enable them to overcome their sins? And once again why don’t all who seek this grace seem to find it?