Running

As a Christian we are faced a lot of times with the reality of the battle of good and evil. Although this may sound cliche to some people, be aware that this is very evident and real in the lives of every human being. It also may sound way to deep or way over your head. The reality of the war, not against flesh and blood, but against  rulers, dark powers in this world, against evil spirits in high places (Ephesians 6:12). Think about it, how many times did the “Real You” want to do something and pass up on temptation and yet there were driving forces urging you to give into temptation. That is the battle that we face daily, that is the battle called “spiritual warfare”. Whether the temptation being smoking, drinking, sex, pornography, cheating, lying, drug addiction, shopping addiction even white lies, even the inward sins, like lusting after women, thinking up lies, strategizing how to get your self a promotion or ladies for you a boyfriend maybe, by ruining someone else’s reputation and so much more. These are all things that I am sure you don’t want in your life truly, but we battle with these things, and that is real. This is not what I am talking to you about today, I just wanted to lay some groundwork on the realities of what we face everyday and that is sin. It is all around us and we need to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. We need to learn to yield to God and his word and his call to holy living. This is something that we need to strive for every single day!

    But trust me, I do realize that nobody is perfect. God knows that we are not perfect. There is another choice. That is after maybe you fall into a sin, there is a temptation to run from God and try to hide out in more sin, but let me tell you from experience that there is a better way! That is running to God for he is so merciful, so forgiving, so loving with open arms that he will pick you up like a father and tell us its ok, we can try again, I will never give up on you or leave you. There is a choice to either run from God or run to God, anytime we sin. I have done both in my lifetime, It is so much better to run to God. His yoke is easy and his burden is light. What that means is sin and guilt can weigh on you so heavily, especially when you are to the point where you know God has called you to a better life, when you know that God has a plan to use you for his glory. This is what I want you to realize today. If you screw up, God is not going to turn you away, God will not run from you, but he will be there with loving arms to grab you and hold you. We just have to choose to run to him rather than away.

1 John 1:9 says “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.”

God knows what we have done, but it is part of a healing process that he has set up, his ways are higher than our ways, that we should confess it to him and get it off of our chests and out of our lives. He is so forgiving!

Lamentations 3:22-23 says “²² The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease.
²³ Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.”

God has new mercies for us every morning. I am talking to YOU! You can start today a brand new day as if you have never sinned in God’s eyes. *Don’t live life looking to your past, look at life through God’s eyes and see the future he has planned for you and follow after that(that is good preacing right there haha)!God is looking at your past mistakes, so you shouldn’t either. God is looking at the new you and the you He know you can be through him! God is here to love you and guide you and forgive you. The Bible is full of scripture that talks of how merciful God is and we should find great comfort in that! So I urge you and challenge you to the next time you screw up and you feel like maybe you want to run from the situation or that you want to run from God and back into sin, just don’t! It is so much better to run to God and his forgiveness. He knows that you messed up, but that doesn’t mean he will ever give up on you. He loves you to much and will welcome you back with his eager love!

Now there is an issue I would like to address and that is that God’s mercy and grace does not give us a license to sin. He calls us to a holy life, he calls us to take up our cross daily and follow him.

Romans 6:1-2;15-18 says “Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? ² Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?………¹⁵ Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! ¹⁶ Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. ¹⁷ Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. ¹⁸ Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.”

As we see here, God’s grace is not a license to sin, but it is his grace that gives us power to overcome lives full of sin. Of course we are humans and we still battle against temptation, sin, and our fleshly desires and we will fall time and time again. But we are called to run the race and strive towards perfection. We are called to put off the old man and put on our new nature, we are called to be more than conquerors and put on the full armor of God so that we can be overcomers. God’s grace is not there for you to go out into the world and intentionally sin and think that its ok. No his grace is there for those who truly follow him, but obviously screw up from time to time. God knows your heart better than you know yourself. He knows your intentions and your heart decisions, so don’t try to sneak one past him! 🙂

    Another good verse to look at when talking about RUNNING to God and not from God is…

James 4:7-10 “⁷ So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. ⁹ Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.”

    This verse tells us to resist the devil, it is only by God’s grace and power working in our lives that we are able to do this. God is our strength when we are weak. And then it says that when we draw close to God, he draws close to us! He will always be there for you, we just have to turn to him rather than run from him to truly experience his love that forgives and heals our guilty hearts. We are to humble ourselves before God. We need to take a real look at our lives and our hearts and be completely and totally honest with God, We are nobody’s, who deserve nothing without him. We need to be wholly surrendered to him, and then he will lift us up, he will pick us up, he will love us and show us how to love. I challenge you once again if you have messed up from the even the smallest way to the biggest way, Run to God, not from him. His mercies are new every morning, His grace covers you and is sufficient for you. His love holds you and never lets you go. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Run to him!