Romans 8 38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 Corinthians1 8Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Philippians 16Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
Galatians 2 20I 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. 21I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
I was raised in a semi Christian home, my mom took us to church every Sunday and my dad went at least twice a year, Christmas and Easter.
I was baptized at the age of 8
But what I heard was: now that you are a Christian you need to live like a Christian. At the age of eight I found out very quickly that I was a failure and could not possibly live the Christian life as it was defined. And I distinctly remember a very restless night when the enemy came and told me God wanted nothing to do with me, I just wasn’t good enough.
There were a couple more times I remember crying out to God and saying I would do it this time, I would live the life.
But I failed. The last time I remember was in Jr. High and after that I just got involved in life and pushed it out of my mind.
I believe the turning point came when I was 28 and my wife was pregnant with our first child, I received a call from a co-worker were Kathy (my wife) worked, she said that Kathy was having a miscarriage, as I drove to get her I once again cried out to God, but this time I told him I could make no promises. It turned out that everything was fine and that it was just a stomach virus.
About a year latter I hit a really low spot, some labeled it a midlife crisis even though I was a little young for that, but I was questioning everything, life just wasn’t making sense.
My brother encouraged me to call an ex-pastor of his who has a discipleship ministry. When I called him the first thing he asked me was “do you want to walk with the Lord Jesus Christ”. My soul cried out yes and he said he could help me.
When we first met I told him how I was a failure and could not live this life that God expected of me, and he said God knows that.
Then he shared with me that Christ gave His life for me, so He could give His life to me so that He can live his life through me and for me. What a relief that was, that day I was released from the bondage that says I must perform. It is no longer up to me, but up to Him. I have found that nothing can separate me from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus and that even though sin is unacceptable, God says that he will finish the good work that he started, and I can now say “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”.
So now my choice is not whether to sin or not sin, but it is do I walk in the flesh or walk in the Spirit, where walking in the flesh is doing my own thing, taking the initiative, living from the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, or setting my focus on Jesus and letting him take the initiative, eating from the tree of Life. So the only time I am not sinning is when I am letting the Lord Jesus Christ be my functional life source any thing apart from that is sin be it good or evil.
Apart from the Lord Jesus Christ I can do nothing; it is all filthy rags, dung.
God has now made known to me that it is Christ in me, my hope of glory.
