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"your heart does not want to stop sinning?" Thank you for writing to us. We are glad you did! Please know that while you may feel hopeless and helpless, that is the tactic that the enemy wants to make you feel to render you useless, discouraged, and disarm you from the Real Weapons that will make the defeat of him certain! Below is much information. Please take what is useful for your particular situation. It is Biblical, but only you and God know your specific condition. Know God’s promises for His children. “See” them in your minds eye and live by them. God NEVER ‘not-forgives’ anyone who comes to Him, no matter how often (Matthew 18:21-35). The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18,19 We are sure that Jesus, Who is in you (1 John 4:4), will make progress in and through you for your own encouragement, true peace, and joy to be full!! Jesus said, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33 "what do you do when you know in your head that you are sinning (and continue to sin) but your heart does not want to stop sinning??......" Your problem is not uncommon, but it is incredibly important to gain victory over. God says HE is to be our First Love (Revelation 2:4), and to have no other God or idols before Him. The Grace is that God Himself, Jesus can enable us to love Him most of all by His Word (hyper word) (John 14:6), Blood (Atonement) and Spirit, which is the Truth to set us free (John 8:32). We are writing a piece on Spiritual Warfare which should be very helpful to you. We will send you the link when it is completed. In this letter we have much information, including practical ideas, to help you along. We are grateful and honored to partner with you and the Lord Jesus Christ in the sanctification process! It is SUCH a JOY to do what God says because the God then does what He says He will do (promises)!! Bear eternal fruit for our greatest Joy, living Hope and eternal peace (John 14:27)!! First, prayer - Dear Heavenly Father, Almighty God, Judge, Ruler, and Grace Giver, we thank You for Who you are!! We praise You that You love us just as we are, and love us even more to not keep us where we are in the sufferings. Lord God, we come before You humble and broken (broken hearted). We have tried over and over In our own strength, and with Your Word, and yet we feel futile and defeated. We know that You alone are the Victor. We know that You alone have the power to defeat sin and death. We know that you alone, the Lord Jesus Christ, have all authority and power over every demonic stronghold and if we are Your children, even authority of how you will form us (Hebrews 12:2 , Philippians 1:6 ). Lord we ask You for wisdom, Your Power, Your strength for endurance, and Your heart’s desire in us to finish the race victoriously for, with, and in You. Lord Jesus, send your Holy Spirit upon us for anointing us with understanding, fear of the Lord, wisdom, and Your spiritual strength to do all that You command us to do with a humble, grateful and joyous heart for You!! In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen. Now for the work - Please consider if the spiritual ground work was already well laid – For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:11, Eph 2:20 We trust that the basic principals are understood in detail and ingested – Atonement and God’s Laws. And that you have received the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and that He has made you His child, a New Creature in Christ. To confirm this, you can read: Bible Salvation, Friendship with God, and Romans Road. Knowing that you are God’s daughter means that you do have the indwelling Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit in the believer and God’s promises are for you. Reading all of the hyperlinks can be helpful in building up your faith and understanding in God and His Word. Now for the problem at hand >> "what do you do when you know in your head that you are sinning (and continue to sin) but your heart does not want to stop sinning??......" Points to note –
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:1-2 Brief Bible study – Eve in the Garden – (Genesis 3) Apply these points to your own personal situation. Reflect in your heart where the strongholds lie. Where are the lies and deception strong? Apply God’s Word of Truth later to each of your particular deceptions. Enemy tactics, lies 1. God does not exist, or God does not care to the very details about you or what you do. Don’t bother taking Him seriously. Don’t pay attention to God’s Word. God is not that important an entity or weighty a contender. Gen 3:1 "Did God really say??" 2. God is holding out on you. God is keeping the "good" stuff from you. He is mean and selfish and is just trying to hurt you. Look at what you are missing. Don’t look at what God has already over abundantly given to you that you do not deserve or could not earn. Gen 3:1 "must not eat from any tree?" 3. God's Word Cannot Be Trusted. Don’t’ believe God. Refute Him. Test His love for you and His Word. God will be found wanting. You can overrule what God says. Gen 3:4 “You will not surely die," 4. Sin Carries No Consequences. Gen 3:4 “You will not surely die," 5. You Can Be Like God. You can rule your own life and run your own show. Gen 3:5 “you will be like God” 6. If It Feels Good, Do It. Go with what you already feel. Put your feelings in front of your rational mind. Put your mind as the caboose. Feelings have no intellect, but use them to rule you instead of your rational logic. Gen 3:6 “the woman saw, pleasing to the eye, desirable, she took.” Weakness/ Consequences 1. The woman misquoted God’s Word. She didn’t know what God said in detail. She did not know God’s Word of Truth in her heart. 2. The woman did not value God deeply enough to stop and ask God to tell her again what He said; of His Word. Gen 3:2 3. Sin spreads like wildfire, devouring others quickly, causing destruction, and loss of paradise. Gen 3:7 gave some to her husband, he ate it … 17 "Cursed is the ground.” 23 “banished from the Garden of Eden”. Observations 1. The devil disguised himself as a “natural” benign creature. That was a lie. 2. The devil sought to divide the woman from God and then divide her from the man. 3. The devil succeeded in destroying all interpersonal relationships, environment, and souls. Apply these points to your own personal situation in detail. God will show you because you do have the Holy Spirit. (Luke 11:9-10, James 1:5 , Psalm 25:5, John 16:13 . Habitual sin is a grand stronghold of the enemy of your soul, the devil. To win spiritual warfare, you must replace God’s Word for every lie that comes up to you. When the lie and deception arrive, say the exact opposite, for rebuttal. (Matt 4:1-11) "what do you do when you know in your head that you are sinning (and continue to sin) but your heart does not want to stop sinning??......" Reflective questions with practical solutions – What is your heart “getting” that it thinks God cannot or will not supply? What are the kudos, good feelings, reaffirmation, value, importance, significance that it “feels” like it is getting? What is the actual counterfeit that your heart is receiving for the actual eternal treasure it has exchanged it for, bartered away and traded it off for? What is the cheap, fake, phony, bogus imitation that is occupying, stimulating, and being idolized in your heart? At what expense is this illusion taking over you? What and who is effected, and for how long will this suffering, vexation, starvation, and deprivation occur? What are the eternal results? Heaven or Hell? What is the cost? Grace = God’s riches at Christ’s expense? The reality is that your heart is trading a counterfeit feeling and situation for REAL value. Your heart is trading eternal significance and eternal life for temporary sensations and certain (if no repentance) eternal hell. Your mind knows this and is warning you. Your heart is being deceived and lying to the rest of you. Can a heart be trusted?? No. “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9 Part of the deceitful heart package is a perverse heart Prov 17:20, an evil plotting heart Prov 12:20, a proud heart Prov 21:4 and a wicked heart Prov 26:23. What can you do about it? Make determined decisions in your will, spirit, mind and body, moment by moment. A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will not know wickedness. Psalm 101:4 May my heart be blameless toward your decrees, that I may not be put to shame. Psalm 119:80 The heart of the righteous weighs its answers, but the mouth of the wicked gushes evil. Proverbs 15:28 A two part decision must be made, joint with the Lord God: 1) Create in me a pure heart, O God, and 2) renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51:10 God can create the new heart, the pure heart. You just need to ask Him to clean you, and walk with Him the rest of your life. Rejoice, great is your treasure in heaven!! (Matthew 5:12 , Luke 10:20 ) How can I have a steadfast spirit within me? How can I change my will to be aligned with God’s heart? First and foremost, hate the sin. See it as God sees it >> Defiling, a cancer with puss that can never be removed and can only increase and grow and infect others UNLESS you submit and have God apply His Son Jesus’ precious and priceless blood to atone for it and live in Christ Jesus, by His Word and Spirit. (Jn 15:1-16) Repent of the sin, seeing it as it is, totally destructive. Cherish God’s Word for you to draw you near to Him, heal you, and enable you to walk clean and fresh, empowered and enabled to do all the eternal good that He desires for you. “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” 2 Corinthians 9:8 “For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10 (Romans 8:28, Philippians 1:6, Philippians 2:13, Colossians 1:10-14, 2 Timothy 2:21, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Hebrews 13:20-21) Love the Lord your God the most (Commandment I), delight in him to have Him give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4), fear the Lord God most, meditate on God’s Word most (Psalm 1), and consider deeply the cost for your pain and loss (Psalm 22, 52,54). How is your pride involved? Are you striving to supply your needs by yourself rather than by God’s way, not allowing God to fulfill His promise (Phil 4:19) at the cost of Christ’s blood on the cross but instead living in defiance against a holy God? (Pride) How are you insulting God and rebelling against Him by not trusting Him for His Word to be accomplished in your life? Who else do you have to turn to?? (Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, whoever hears My Word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. John 5:24 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The Words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the Words of eternal life. John 6:63,68) Consider reading about the Big Picture, Temptation, the Devil, and Repentance, God’s Laws, the Sinful Life, Atonement, My Room, Friendship with God, and Who Jesus Christ is, Cast your cares. Practical help - Here is a list. Pick which ones work for you, and work them through. You may find that different ones work at different times. Read God’s Word, the Bible. Read it, re-read it, delve into it, ingest it, and eat it as if it is food for your life. Read about Jesus and His punishment that you and I deserve for the sin we have done. Take it at face value. Contemplate every possible meaning and take all the lessons combined. Apply it to your life, practically. Realize God HATES your actions, and that you have chosen to be His enemy (Romans 5:10). You may feel very condemned understanding this, which should bring you to fear of God Who can cast you to hell (Luke 12:5). But quickly remember His Son Jesus, and apply all of your guilt and shame to Him directly (Psalm 22, Psalm 7:11, Isaiah 52:13-15, Isaiah 53). Fear the Lord God, that is good, for He is Holy and knowledge and understanding of Him is healthy for your soul. "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." Proverbs 9:10, Luke 12:5 Acknowledge your sin, and own it as it is your own fault, your choice, without blame on anyone else. Romans 14:12 See the effect of our sin on others. Confess your sins in entirety and in detail to the Lord God Almighty directly. Repent completely from each sin. Reject the sin from your heart, mind, etc. Turn away from it in your imagination and give it to Jesus Christ on His Cross, for He took the punishment and died for that sin. Know that without repenting, turning away from your sins, and turning directly To God, your future will be worse this year and the next, and permanently after you die, which could be soon. See Mercy, Grace, Hope, and Love. Do not procrastinate from submitting to the Living God. For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life! Romans 5:10 Let those who love the LORD hate evil, for He guards the lives of His faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked. Psalm 97:10 Choose to live FOR God on a daily basis in your thoughts, actions, emotions, attitudes, words, and more. choose to make Jesus the King of you, and serve Him by His Holy Spirit in truth. Grow in Christ Jesus. Move forward without looking backward. “The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” John 12:25 (Luke 9:62, Luke 14:26, Matthew 10:32-39) Open the Bible to any random place and multiple times, and read them. Whatever you see, read them and try to connect the dots, some people suggest. Increase your faith by reading God’s Word out loud. Page =Listen to Christian radio, fill you mind with God’s thoughts so you will be more smart, wise, compassionate, healed in your heart, joyful from within, filled with living water of the Holy Spirit (John 7:38), and used by God for His glory and purpose and for your delight! Continue to trust Jesus Christ, Who lives to intercede for you (Hebrews 7:25), in the small matters in your daily life (Matt 6). God does care about all of you!! Realize that only by trusting God in every area and living by Faith can God satisfy your true needs and keep you from sinning. We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One Who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him. 1 John 5:18 No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him. 1 John 3:6 If you find that you keep on sinning, ask the Lord God, Jesus the Christ to reveal Himself to you personally!! Jesus promises that “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will never drive away.” John 6:37 Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Hebrews 7:25 "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." Luke 11:9,10 I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. Jeremiah 32:40 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, Who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. James 1:5 Live your life in a relationship with the Risen and Living Lord Jesus Christ. Talk with Him without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17), listen for His Word in your mind, act upon His Word, bring Him you troubles daily, your joys, sorrows, thoughts, mundane-ness, etc. You are His daughter(Matthew 12:50), and He cannot love you too much!! God IS love! Do things with Jesus Christ, your Savior in mind, just like you would someone whom you see daily. God is that real, and your interactions with Him will not go unnoticed by Him (Psalm 139) but you will start noticing “coincidences” and special “occurrences” that are the desires of your heart. God is delighting in you, and letting you know!! That is God relating back to you, too!! Keep up the dialogue with your life, heart, mind, and spirit! Telling others is the natural overflow of relationship built on a love for Christ on His Terms. (Matthew 18:20 , Matthew 10:32 , Matt 28:17-20, Acts 2:14-21) Choose to love Jesus with your life, and be in love with Him (John 14:23, John 15:10,Revelation 2:4)!!! Do all He says, whether your emotions are on board or not. Obedience has God as your very sure reward!! After this, the Word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward. " Genesis 15:1 Thank you for letting us serve you. Please let us know if this was helpful. Have a blessed day!! Bring me to Questions |
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