Victory

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Haole
Posts: 43
Joined: Sun Jun 19, 2011 9:44 pm

Victory

Post by Haole » Mon Feb 20, 2012 9:56 pm

I have been listening to Steve's messages on The Narrow Path on my laptop. I am remodeling our house and I listen to the messages as loud as the poor speakers will go. There are no shortage of interseting topics. I could not escape, the "How can I tell I'm really saved" series. It is AMAZING! I too struggled with "self-gratification" since adolescence. I accepted Christ as my Savior when I was 19 and was the person who walked away when tempatation and the troubles came. Two years ago, when I was 44, I invited Jesus into my heart for good, this time. The "struggle" continued. Through listening to the messages, and daily fellowship with God, I worked out that I was like Steve was saying, "I liked to sin". I put myself into situations or looked in the direction of things that would titillate me. Then I would dwell on it until I squeezed God out of my conscience, then I would sin and confess. It wasn't until I realized that Jesus was not just my Savior but my LORD, that I got victory.

God showed me through my relationship with my wife, who is also a Christian, that his relationship with me is similar. I love her and I would be offended if she daydreamed about other men all day. Even if she never acted on her thoughts, she wasn't thinking or dwelling on me. I was forced to see that that was I was doing to Him. I was dwelling on things that satisfied me and not on those that satisfy God.

Somewhere between "How do I know If I'm really saved" and "Purity" it just happened. One day when the tempatation came, it went away in a flash. I do not want to do it. The desire is gone.

I think of it like this. Once you become a Christian, you are like Adam and Eve. You have everything you need and you have God with you. I'm not sure how they communed with God, per se, but for my analogy I assume that since he could walk in the cool of the day, he wasn't dwelling in their hearts but right there with them. Anyway, when Eve was tempted, she would have had to call out for God's help, and she didn't. We have it easier. He dwells in our heart. When we are tempted, we don't have to go find him or ask him to come help us, he dwells in us. In order to sin, we have to take an even more active role in removing him or ignoring his presence. This makes us sinning a very deliberate thing. I can not do that to my Lord.

Thank you Steve and thank you Narrow Path!

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steve
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Joined: Thu Aug 21, 2008 9:45 pm

Re: Victory

Post by steve » Tue Feb 21, 2012 1:02 am

And thank you, for your testimony. Praise the Lord!

Haole
Posts: 43
Joined: Sun Jun 19, 2011 9:44 pm

Re: Victory

Post by Haole » Sun Mar 04, 2012 1:28 pm

I wanted to add a few thoughts about my earlier post.

When we make Jesus our Savior, we naively conquer the fear about where we go when we die.
-We satisfy ourselves

When we make Jesus our LORD, we satisfy HIM and how we live our lives during our lifetime.
-We satisfy him


Through the "How Do I Know I'm Really Saved" and other mp3s, I realized that I liked the proximity to sin, because I could let it rub off on me and "accidentally" sin. I would repent. Never-ending cycle. I realized very quickly, there were times I wasn't even enjoying it. I kept talking to God and trying to analyze it. It finally hit me that I liked it. I needed to step closer to God. This sounds strange to hear, but I was afraid to get too close to God, because I thought that eventually we were going to become so much like him that eventually we would be absorbed into this ball of God energy. I said, "Eventually". A very strange thought, I know. Every time I've gotten closer to God, I've benefitted. This time, he was saying, "How many times have you been afraid to get close to me for whatever weird reason"? I knew I was wrong and he was right. So I stepped toward him. I have been trying to explain to my wife that we are supposed to have one foot in heaven and one foot on earth. I had been hedging my bets and, although I had one foot in Heaven, the way I was living in relationship to my sins, was that I was leaning back toward earth. I liked my proximty to sin. One day I just stepped into Heaven with both feet. I was surprised to find that I was still a flesh and blood human and standing on the earth. Maybe a millionth of an inch higher, as if insulated. That's when it hit me. I am not a slave to sin. If I don't want to do it, I don't have to. If I sin, it's because I choose to. Now, I need him to work on my heart in other areas as far as how I view other people. My impulses and quick responses. I trust that he can and will change my heart in this area also, since he's done what he said he'd do in every other instance.

Thank again!!!
Haole

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