34: Freed

In our journey in freedom, we will be tempted to return to the place we have been. There will be moments where it feels like we cannot endure what is happening to us. Many will feel alone in their situation not reaching out to anyone else and keep their struggle to themselves. When we do this, we lock ourselves in our own prison. We were never meant to do this alone.

 

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.

1 Corinthians 10:13

 

To think that what your going through is unique and unlike anything else anyone has struggled with is a lie from the enemy. He wants you to dwell on it so much that you get in a deep depression becoming ineffective to fulfil the mission. There are those in the church who show up but haven’t shown up in years. They believe if the people knew what they were going through they would be kicked out and shunned. No one understands what they are going through, yet they remain in hopes that one day the problem will just go away.

 

This is a roadblock we put in our own way that keeps us from experience what God has for us. We need to open up to ourselves and others. When we freely let what is happening to us out and share it with others who follow the same God we can experience a freedom from our pain. Only then can we see that we are not the only one who has experienced this, the weight that has been on our shoulders will be lifted and we can begin to experience freedom.

 

God promises that we can overcome temptation. He promises that He is faithful. We can trust that God’s promises are true. I strong way to endure temptation is to partner with other believers. They will stand by us and help us as they have experienced many of the same things we are going through.

 

Father, thank you for your promise that we can overcome the temptations that come our way. For those struggling with revealing their sins and asking for help, I pray that they overcome this fear and put their trust in you. Help us to fulfil the mission of reaching the lost, let them see that there is hope in you. Let our community of believers be an example of your love for us. Amen

 

Day 34: Original 50 Days of Pray Revisited

Thoughts of Day 34: Some faith groups have taken today’s verse out of context and concluded that to be saved you must confess your sins to a clergy who then can offer forgiveness for your misgivings. He or she then gives you something to do or say that will compensate for the sins you have committed. As we learn today this isn’t the point of what was written many years ago. Confessions of sins is something we can bring right to Jesus, and leave it at his feet and he will forgive us every time as he has paid it all on the cross.

17 March 15

DAY THIRTY-FOUR

Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with. Elijah, for instance, human just like us, prayed hard that it wouldn’t rain, and it didn’t-not a drop for three and a half years. Then he prayed that it would rain, and it did. The showers came and everything started growing again. (James 5:16-18 MSG)

So do you have someone or multiple people in your life that you can confess your sins with?
Well according to James 5:16 this should be common place in your life.

Why not? Why do we keep our confessions of sin only between us and God? Why would we need to confess our sins to fellow believers?

One reason I believe is that if we confess our sins to others we create a bond of accountability. It allows our close friends to hold us accountable for our actions in the future calling us out on sin. For example, if you confess to your friends that your looking at web sites that are inappropriate and ask for forgiveness from Jesus, then they should step in and hold you accountable, whether it’s giving them permission to search your browser history at random or just being there to help you out.

You can’t live the Christian life alone, you need a church family, you need a bible study group, you need accountability partners. Jesus had his group of friends he trusted, and they learned to trust each other.

Dear Jesus, show me who my close friends are, the ones who believe in You and I can trust to be accountable to. Help me to lay any sins before them in humility asking for their help in avoiding them in the future. If I am living a life full of sinful desires I pray that you will forgive me of my sin and help me to walk with you. Thank you that your word encourages accountability and not a solo life as a Christian. Amen

Day 12: Original 50 Days of Pray Revisited

Thoughts of Day 12: We all at some point need someone to meet us at our low points. Travelling those times alone lead us to depression and anxiety, points where we may feel like giving up on God, our families, friends and maybe even our lives. If we go through these times, then it is safe to assume others do as well. We as believers need to use our low point experiences to help others through their times. You experience may deep and hurts but it may be exactly what’s needed to free someone in need.

 

DAY TWELVE

Galatians 6:1-3 Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgiving restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day’s out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived.

Have you ever experienced someone admitting their sin, not from you observing their actions, but confessing something to the church as a whole. Something so big that you feel like you could pick up a stone and just start throwing it at them? Well that’s what they used to do in the Old Testament, Lucky for us we don’t do that anymore, but sometimes our words that follow an admittance of such sin is pretty much the same as throwing stones of condemnation

In Galatians 6:1 it says that we are to save our critical comments to ourselves. Critical comments lead to gossip, it is a slippery slope that will lead you down into sin yourself if you are not careful. Those times where a person publicly admits to adultery, fraud, lying, pornography and a multitude of other things, he or she is calling out for help. They realize they made a huge mistake, they may have tried to fix it on their own, have hit rock bottom and are asking Jesus and their family of believers for help. We as believers really have 3 choices here. The one part of the world says to pick up a stone and hit them while they are down. Another says that if you ignore them they will just go away, not my problem to deal with. But as written above God says to Stoop down, reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s Law, “Love one another as I have loved you.” If Christ can forgive and restore in love then why can’t we. Stoop down means getting off your pew, and going right up beside them, reaching out is to go to where they are, offering help wherever they need, sharing their burdens may mean listening to anything they have to share, not just talking but actually listening and praying.

If you don’t have anyone in your life who would Stoop Down, Reach Out, Share your Burdens or show the love of Christ in your life, I pray today that you take some time to ask God to put some Godly accountability partners into your life. We are all going to sin, we will all at some point in our lives need someone to put down the stone and kneel beside us, wrap their arms around us and just love us.

Dear Jesus, Do I have someone in my life that I trust to talk about anything with? If I don’t I ask Father that you will help me find a friend that can stand by my side in the good times and bad. A true friend who is a follower of You, who will never pick up a stone against me. Who will love me and will always be willing to ask me the tough questions. Help me to be the same for them. Jesus thank you for Your forgiveness and that you love me for who I am not who I need to be. AMEN