davidbowerkingwood

We live in Satan’s world; mankind forfeited its rights to the world in the Garden of Eden. It is Satan who is the prince of the power of the air as explained in Ephesians 2:2. All is not lost, however, as mankind has a kinsman redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ.

When He died on the cross the Lord paid off the debt that mankind had incurred on that fateful day in the Garden when Adam decided to do it his way and not God’s way. Although the earth has yet to actually be redeemed, the price has been paid; the redemption will take place at a time chosen by God when the Lord Jesus Christ returns to earth at the Second Advent.

Although the price has been paid and the redemption secured by the death of the Lord, those of us who are God’s children by faith in the shed blood of Christ still live out our lives in a world controlled by Satan.

I suspect that most readers will agree that this arrangement is fraught with problems. We, as small specs of divine righteousness, are all submerged in a world of sin. I’ve used the analogy of a submarine being submerged under water and needing to be constantly on guard against leaks which could cause great difficulty. We too must maintain constant vigilance against the pressures of sin imposed by our society.

Our challenge is complicated by the fact we have a saboteur on board our little life sub; a traitor in the crew that is trying to disable us, that wants us to take on water/sin and sink. This saboteur is called our sin nature and is a formidable foe with which we must deal. I am personally convinced that the majority of problems we face in life are a direct result of our sin nature, not a Satanic or demonic attack.

As with any analogy this one is not perfect; although we might be put out of commission we can never be sunk without any hope of recovery. God is fully aware of our problem and has provided a means of effectively dealing with this traitor; it’s called confession of sin and is described in I John, Chapter 1 verses 8-10: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

That appears very clear to me, all of us have the same sin problem and here is how God wants us to deal with it. This problem is inherent in each and every one of us no matter who they may be or their positions of authority.

Unlike the submarine our position as born-again children of God, is ultimately safeguarded by the faithfulness of Christ to each and every one of us; although we can be disabled we cannot be sunk.

I have found that things work much better for me if I keep a very short account with God; I confess my sins many times every day. Please notice that when we confess know sins that God is faithful and just to cleanse us of all unrighteousness.

What is the point of all this? It all goes back to the Spirit led life and the fruit of the Spirit. Unconfessed sin quenches the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives; when the power of the Spirit is quenched there is no hope of fruit. The secret to consistent fruit in our lives is the controlling presence of the Holy Spirit.