Negative words, distrusting God, misconduct
These days God is talking to us about sins. On of the things which can hinder our prayers from being heard by God is sin as Bible says in Isaiah 59 verses 1 and 2 that the hand of the Lord is not short that he cannot save nor He is deaf that he cannot hear but its our unrighteousness and sins that turns his face in such a way that He cannot hear. Yes ! There are certain things that GOD CANNOT DO – He cannot sin and He cannot tolerate sin.
Yet many times in our lives, we keep some sins in our lives. I want to remind you of one verse in the Bible:
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. – [Hebrews 13:8]
He saved Daniel from the hungry lion, so will He do it for us today (save us from the roaring lion) because He has not changed. He saved Daniel’s friends (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) in the fire, He will do the same today from every problem of life, because He has not changed. He guided Moses and Abraham since He chose them so He will guide us in our ways too. He fed and provided every need of Israelites (His chosen people) while they wandered in wilderness for 40 years, so He will also provide for us because He has not changed and He is the same Jehovah Jireh still. This is all right and praise God for this.
But this verse which we generally take as a promise – is also a warning for us.
This means that if He hated sin then, He hates it today also. If he punished severely for sins, He should do it even today. The only thing which saves us today is the grace and blood of Jesus Christ which was paid as atonement of our sins. So should we continue to sin? Should we take undue advantage of this grace? NO! Yes, I can hear the resounding NO from you as well, but don’t we really sin even after knowing the true and the living God!
Mostly we confess our sins as we are convicted by the Holy Spirit everyday as we spend time in fellowship with God meditating on His Word and praying. I believe those sins are forgiven because Bible promises that if we confess, He forgives, but what about those sins which we keep doing without even noticing that they are sins and we don’t bother to confess. Those sins I am referring as RESPECTED SINS. We keep them aside and don’t want to think about them or touch them.
For example, speaking evil, negative and idle words from our mouth is a sin. Even calling a brother fool is compared to the sin of murder and yet at times, many born again God fearing believers don’t hesitate in using their tongue for boasting, cursing, back-biting, complaining, using idle words in frustration etc. James in 3rd chapter from verse 3 to 12, warns us that this same tongue could take us in heaven or hell, we have to be cautious of what we speak. If we speak negative words or curses, devil uses those words to bind us and keep us in bondage but if we speaking positive words and blessings, God uses those words of faith to bless us. This is why Jesus said that He has given us the KEYS that by which we can open and loose the things in heaven – the key is our tongue.
There could be many other sins that we have respected in our lives and kept them hidden (not even bothering to think about them) and so never confessed. My beloved in Christ, there is no one who will see God without holiness (Hebrew 12:14) so ask the Holy Spirit to bring out those hidden sins to you so that you may confess and get rid of them.
Today what we need to do is confess them, cancel their effects and speak out blessing from now on and this is how we can live that abundant life that Jesus promised for us. May God bless you.
** Read a book called ‘Respectable Sins’ from Jerry Bridges on this subject.
Respected sins – Fear, Worry, Frustration and Unthankfulness
As God continued to talk to us about the so called ‘respected sins’ as we defined it in the last article, I realized that they are somewhat like the blinking of our eyes.
Do we ever think when do we blink the eyes, they just keep blinking and we don’t even notice them. Majority of right-handed people put their left leg in the pants first while wearing clothes. Did you ever notice that?
Respected sins are such sins which go unnoticed even though they are there in our lives, quietly working day and night – to degrade our spiritual life. We don’t even think about them. I want to name a few here:
- Fear
- Worry
- Frustration, and
- Unthankfulness
Are they not so much part of our lives? We do come across many situations where we are afraid or at least worried. Sometimes, when things do not go our way, we get frustrated and therefore also unthankful to God – as if we were saying – not your will but my will be done – and when it did not happen we grumble and remain unthankful.
Do we really see them as sins? Yes, they are sins.
In my opinion, sin is disobedience to God’s commands with a heart of distrust. So when God says,
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say – rejoice… Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God – [Philippians 4:4,6]
and,
Be joyful always, pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. – [1 Thessalonians 5:16-18]
and,
For God did not give us spirit of fear and timidity… – [2 Peter 1:7]
Does he not mean them? If he means them, what do we do by being worrying, fearing, frustrating and being unthankful? Is it not disobeying him and therefore sinning against him? Is it not like saying in our attitude that God we know that you exist, but who knows whether you can handle this situation or not, therefore I am worried. What a pity that we cannot trust completely on the God who created the heavens and the earth and everything which exists.
Yes, the main reason of all such sins is – not trusting in God completely. Can we take a decision today that we will trust in Him completely in ALL our circumstances – good or bad, easy or difficult and will not worry but give thanks to Him because He is in control and will bring goodness in everything for us who love him and serve him with reverence.
Lets confess today before God that we have allowed all these negative emotions in our lives but not anymore. Lets ask God’s strength so that we may live by faith and glorify him in our lives. Lets pray:
God, we thank you for opening our eyes to see these hidden sins in our lives. Today we confess that have not trusted you completely in several circumstances and have cribbed. Lord forgive our sins and fill us with the power of your Holy Spirit so that we can live free of these sins in future and bless you by our words, actions and attitude. Lord be glorified in us. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.