davidbowerkingwood

A Daily Struggle Against Sin, Internal and External!

For reasons known only to God, it pleased God to leave his adopted children in fallen bodies of clay, our temporary tents, fighting a spiritual war on a spiritual battlefield; on a sin-cursed world heading for judgment! I have written more on this in the series that starts with; “To The Soldiers in the Spiritual War.”

Having served as a soldier in the Lord’s army for over 80 years, I can testify to the results it has accomplished in my life; I have come to detest sin, death, and disobedience. My ultimate desire before the Lord is to be found an obedient, faithful servant to my creator!

By God’s grace, I was saved very early in my life; it saddens me greatly to recall the times I decided to dabble with sin and disobedience. Despite my straying, God has always been faithful to me and has faithfully guided me through some very difficult times during my life’s journey.

In retrospect, I can look back and see his hand of love and mercy faithfully guiding me back to him and helping me establish a pattern of life that shows my love and respect for him and the wisdom of obedience to his commands!

The Battle Rages On

We fight against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

The spiritual battle, which has been waged for thousands of years, is still in progress and I can feel the presence of my old sin nature always trying to undermine my efforts as a soldier of the Lord.

Fortunately, the Lord has given me an early warning system that alerts me to the efforts of my sin nature and allows me to utilize the shield of faith by confession of sin to God.

I am eternally thankful for the grace of God which recognizes my struggle with sin and permits me to seek refuge in confession of sin to him. In 1 John 1:8-10 it is written:

“⁸ If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. ⁹ But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. ¹⁰ If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.”

I am particularly thankful that my confession results in the cleansing of both my known and unknown sins; I am truly grateful to God for his thoroughness!

A Shared Experience

I find the 7th chapter of Romans to be filled with reassurance and comfort; I, as a Christian soldier, do not stand alone, but know I am joined by legions of other Christian men and women all over the world. We are not alone in our struggles with sin, but share that historic struggle with none other than the Apostle Paul.

Romans chapter 7 begins with an explanation of the purpose of the Mosaic Law, it helps us understand the extent of the problem we all have with sin. The chapter ends with a statement of the fact of sin in our lives as Christians. In Romans 7:14-25 it is written:

¹⁴ So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. ¹⁵ I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. ¹⁶ But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

¹⁸ And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. ¹⁹ I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. ²⁰ But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

²¹ I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. ²² I love God’s law with all my heart. ²³ But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. ²⁴ Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? ²⁵ Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.”

Happily, Paul does not stop there but provides God’s answer to the sin problem in Romans 8 which we will cover next in “Victory in Jesus!”