Abdicate's Blog

It’s not what people use it to mean. Forgiveness isn’t for the offender, but for the offended. Indeed this is a huge subject. Definition first:

Forgive in Hebrew:

– Original: נשׂא
– Transliteration: Nasa’
– Phonetic: naw-saw’
– Definition:
1. to lift, bear up, carry, take

In Greek:
– Original: ἀφίημι
– Transliteration: Aphiemi
– Phonetic: af-ee’-ay-mee
– Definition:
1. to send away
a. to bid going away or depart

Very interesting. To forgive is to carry away, to bid going away. Here’s how this applies. Let’s start with this verse:

Proverbs 18:8 (KJV)
The words of a talebearer [are] as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.

…are as wounds… this is so true that every child is almost taught “sticks and stone may break my bones but words will never hurt” and that is a big fat lie. It’s a failed attempt to make a negative situation a positive. But here we have the word of God that says otherwise. They ARE as wounds. Furthermore, it’s not just a momentary hurt but those wounds go down into the innermost parts of the belly! What does that mean? It goes to the heart. The heart is more than the pump that circulates the blood, it is where we keep the records of our events. The mind is used to analyze events in our lives, but it’s the conclusions that are kept in our bodies, in every cell, rightly or wrongly judged. When David asked to search his heart Psa 139:23-24, this is what he was talking about. Our judgments of events in our lives are stored and will affect us if we do not send it away – forgive. Those feelings will rot out where ever they were stored. Here’s an example:

There was a friend of mine that had chronic sinus infections and spent thousands trying to discover the problem. Nothing. Then one day I asked her, “Did anything happen to you as a child?” She hung up the phone. Three hours later she called back and explained a horrible childhood with an unbelievably brutal mother. I told her she needed to forgive her mother. She hung up again. Three days later she called back trying to justify her hate of her mother. After a few hours of deep discussion she relented but said it was still impossible to forgive her because she had already died. I told what I said above: forgiveness is for the offended not the offender. She hung up civilly this time saying she had to think about it.

Days went by. She called back and said she cried and cried but she forgave her mother. A few more days went by and she called back saying her sinus infection had gone! That was 5 years ago and she’s been free ever since. 

Mark 11:26 (KJV)
But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

1 John 2:12 (KJV)
I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.

How can these two verses not be a contradiction? One is conditional and the other isn’t. So which is it? (These are rhetorical questions, I’ll answer them.) Indeed, as Christians, our sins are completely forgiven, and we have access to abundant grace. So, did Jesus lie? God forbid! So it means only one thing: His words are not understood (surprise!).

God’s grace is sufficient, 2 Cor 12:9 So what is grace? Unmerited favor. Salvation means freedom from stress – all, not just the change of destination after death. But you can look that one up. So… why if we have this wonderful superabundant grace are there still illnesses in the body of Christ? Time for more understanding:

Jeremiah 17:9 (KJV)
The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], and desperately wicked: who can know it?

So we saw before the wounds go down to the innermost part of the belly. The word heart here means the inner man, mind, will, heart, understanding, the inner part, midst. Belly also means the seat of mental faculties. This is very interesting because remember your first love, where did it hurt? In the belly right? All the feelings go there. When someone is deeply upset they don’t want to eat. If these where just mental issues alone, why does it affect the belly like the word of God says? Because it’s true.

Here’s Youngs Literal of the verse above:

Jeremiah 17:9 (YLT)
Crooked [is] the heart above all things, And it [is] incurable–who doth know it?

When events are buried inside us, we don’t even recognize their reaction to other events as being connected. Have you ever totally lost it and not know why, or how that could happen to you? That’s a buried, festering, feeling in response to an event. It requires the Holy Spirit in meditation of His word to weed that out and send it away – forgive. This is why the question is asked, who can know it? Only God can because we’ve buried it! But once He tells you about it, you must then act on that information and send away the hurt. This is what they do for PTSD soldiers. They get them to acknowledge and release the pain, walk through and get rid of those feelings. This is what doctors do for children who cannot express themselves, they have them draw out the traumatic event. If you ignore those feelings it will only manifest itself as an illness 20, 30, 50 years later, because you don’t use what God gives you – grace. That grace will give you the power to overcome all those negative feelings. And because you deal with those transgression against you – send away, forgive -, God can heal (forgive, send away) your transgressions – meaning He now has YOUR permission to deal with your issues.

Here’s why that verse is translated so.

John 20:19-23 (KJV)
Then the same day at evening, being the first [day] of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace [be] unto you. And when he had so said, he shewed unto them [his] hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace [be] unto you: as [my] Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on [them], and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; [and] whose soever [sins] ye retain, they are retained.

So Jesus shows up, say “Peace” tells them He sends them like His Father did to Him, gives them the Holy Spirit and then talks about “remit”. Hallelujah! It’s the same word for SEND AWAY translated elsewhere as forgive!

Here’s the Message’s translation:
John 20:22-23 (MSG) Then he took a deep breath and breathed into them. “Receive the Holy Spirit,” he said. “If you forgive someone’s sins, they’re gone for good. If you don’t forgive sins, what are you going to do with them?”

He’s saying, if you don’t send away the sins of others – from where? YOU! – then what are you going to do with them seeing they’re going to reside in your BELLY!!!

If you forgive, then God can heal you. Where’s that in the bible you say?

Galatians 2:21 (KJV)
I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness [come] by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

The word frustrate means to do away with, to set aside, disregard, to thwart the efficacy of anything, nullify, make void, frustrate! Here you go, if you reject the grace of God you’re NULLIFYING it! And if you nullify you’re canceling it out. So now you can understand the meaning of:

Mark 11:26 (KJV)
But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

If you do not send away (because you reject, nullify the grace given to you), neither can your Father send away yours because YOU won’t release them!! It’s all cause and effect!

That’s what forgiveness is! I die daily. I renew my mind. I send away, not cover up, those negative, festering feelings. This is the meaning of 2 Cor 10:5!

Once you get rid of them, the way to maintain it is Phil 4:8!

I hope this LONG (yet very short) study of forgiveness helps someone! Praise God!

John 8:32 (KJV)
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Jeremiah 1:5 (KJV)
Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, [and] I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

Ok, first let me say, many are not going to like what I’m going to say because the devil has hijacked this truth and many immediately reject it, but it’s better than Calvinism. I’m sure this will be too much meat but this isn’t a milk question, 1 Cor 3:2; Heb 5:12. So let’s start at the beginning and use our brains.

Genesis 2:7 (KJV)
And the LORD God formed man [of] the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. 

God breathed the breath of life into clay and made a living soul. (NOTE: if Adam was predestinated to be innocent, God would not have made the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil to give him a choice!) Well, that explains Adam, but what about Able? Or you or me? So where did our “breath” come from? The word breath in Hebrew is נְשָׁמָה (nshamah) and means: 

In Greek

Then we have this verse talking about death:

Ecclesiastes 12:7 (KJV)
Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. 

The word spirit here has many meanings, but I use the definition: the energy of life, as gift, preserved by God, God’s spirit, departing at death, disembodied being.

So we see right off that the spirit comes from God and returns to God regardless of what happens on earth and our bodies turn to dust after this spirit is removed. So, that leaves what was made, the soul – נֶפֶשׁ. Interestingly, the meaning of each letter is: seed (or life), mouth, God (or consumes). Neat how it literally means the life from God is consumed by the mouth. 

We are created spirit beings and made humans at conception, the spark of life. God wants the soul and body to be saved WITH the spirit!

1 Thessalonians 5:23 (KJV)
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and [I pray God] your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

It’s easy to equate all reference to “spirit” as the Holy Spirit, but Jesus had a spirit independent of the Holy Spirit which did not rest on Him until His baptism, Mat 3:16. Even the unsaved have a spirit because that is the life of the body! In fact there are seven spirits:

Revelation 1:4 (KJV)
John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace [be] unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come;and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; 

Revelation 3:1 (KJV)
And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. 

Revelation 4:5 (KJV)
And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and [there were] seven lamps of fire burning before the throne,which are the seven Spirits of God. 

Revelation 5:6 (KJV)
And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. 

Those seven spirits are:

Isaiah 11:2 (KJV)
And the spirit of the LORD {Abdicate: this is the Holy Spirit} shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; 

These seven spirits are what seals the scroll of your life.

Revelation 5:1 (KJV)
And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book {Abdicate: also scroll} written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. 

The book in Revelation is the scroll of the Lamb which could only be opened by the Lamb through these seven spirits because they gave Him wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge and fear of the LORD and rested on Him, while he was here on the Earth in the flesh. By the Spirit He fulfilled the law in the flesh. This is how we are to walk in the Spirit (via the seven spirits that teach us all truth.) We all have a scroll in our hearts, the scroll of our testimony, a plan from God, to fulfill His will, given to us before the foundation of the earth. This shows we are created spirits with a mission which require us to get saved (come alive, quicken) in the body:

Psalms 119:88 (KJV)
Quicken me after thy lovingkindness; so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth. 

Psalms 40:7-8 (KJV)
Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book [it is] written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law [is] within my heart. 

Romans 8:11 (KJV)
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. 

Once we are alive, we have a new desire, the desire to do God’s will, what’s written on our hearts, God’s plan. Why do you think it’s so easy to see very young children with so much life, free of fear, free of sin, and they seem to glow? Because the scroll of the heart is fresh and they speak the truth!

Psalms 8:2 (KJV)
Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. 

We are taught to fear and hate and to sin, which also comes easily because it too is in our genes via Adam, and then we forget God’s plan. It’s easy to say that only the Ten Commandments are written in our hearts but the word law is literally teachings, so this is much more than just the workings of our conscience, but the plan God has for our lives. 

The problem with these verses in Jeremiah is that people ignore other verses and jump to conclusion like: he had no choice. When you start down that path, then why preach the gospel at all? Since we have no choice we can do whatever we want! That’s the real danger of Calvinism. So if these verses don’t mean Jeremiah was forced to be a prophet, then what could it mean? What about common sense? There was a plan. A plan conceived by God fulfilled by Jeremiah.

Psalms 33:11 (KJV)
The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.

The word thoughts here means intention, plan, a plot. 

Psalms 139:13-16 (KJV)
For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully [and] wonderfully made: marvellous [are] thy works; and [that] my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, [and] curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy bookall [my members] were written, [which] in continuance were fashioned, when [as yet there was] none of them. 

These three verses are an amazing testament to our existence. They show we have a mission from before we were formed, given to us in the spirit and then that mission is written on our hearts. 

Psalms 37:23 (KJV)
The steps of a [good] man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. 

The word ordered is established, firm, fixed, but the word man here isn’t adam or ish, but a warrior (גּבר geber). God has a plan for His soldiers, 2 Timothy 2:3, literally orders! 

God has a plan for every living soul and when that soul refuses, He moves on to someone who will obey. If we were forced, then Adam never would have had the forbidden tree, and never would have sinned and we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Jesus learned obedience and did what He saw His Father do.

John 8:13-14 (KJV)
The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true. Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I bear record of myself, [yet] my record is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go. 

Yes Jesus is God but He still had to learn, just as we do, through the Holy Spirit (and the seven spirits), 1 John 2:27. He learned the plan written on His heart, just as we must. This scroll in our heart can only be opened by us through the teachings of the seven spirits and it can take a lifetime to learn. It took Jesus about 30 years, Luke 3:23, to learn, Matt 26:39, and He had no sin, so imagine us. 

Hebrews 5:8 (KJV)
Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; 

Now I hope you better understand this verse:

Psalms 37:4 (KJV)
Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. 

The desires of your heart, are the plans of God, not the fleshly desires to fill your wallet or garage or be famous, because when you first delight in the Lord, then your desire for the physical is diminished and change to the spiritual. 

I hope you didn’t skim over this long comment, it is filled with stuff that will require the reader to meditate on.

Matthew 13:45-46 (KJV)
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

To get a pearl the mollusk receives a foreign object within its tender flesh creating an irritant. As a reaction to the irritant, it secretes thousands of very thin concentric layers of nacre. The bigger the irritant the bigger the pearl. A pearl is created with a shimmering iridescence, luster and soft inner glow unlike any other gem on earth. Because the nacre is composed of microscopic crystals of calcium carbonate, aligned perfectly with one another, the light passing along the axis of one crystal is reflected and refracted by another to produce a rainbow of light and color. To extract that pearl the mollusk sometimes has to die.

How does this apply to us? Well Jesus is the Mollusk and we are the pearl! We have a rainbow of promises that reflects the love of God. In Hebrew, the word for mollusk is רכיכה. The letter meanings are: Man, open hand, nail, open hand, grace! Jesus opened both His hands, nailed on the cross, for us to receive what was in those hands: Grace. Jesus gave His life to make us a pearl of great price with His tender flesh on the cross, Luke 22:19! His suffering made us, the irritating foreign object, into a shimmering pearl of His light.

When the pearl comes into contact with sweat the luster is lost. To restore it, you need only to wash it with water. When we come into contact with the works of the flesh Galatians 2:16; 5:19-21, we lose our luster 2 Corinthians 4:6, but we need only wash ourselves with the word of God, John 15:3; Ephesians 5:26-27. One last amazing thing from the Hebrew for mollusk is this verse:

Genesis 12:3 (KJV)
And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

The highlighted words above in Hebrew is מברכיך (literally meaning who bless you). Who is it that will bless Israel the most? Jesus. Now when you take away the suffixes of מ (meaning from) and ב (meaning in) you have the word mollusk! This is the hidden mystery of the Church: from and within the mollusk! What is in and from the mollusk? A pearl, and from Jesus, a pearl of great price, the Church! Glory to God! You and me! Praise Jesus for His words and His love towards us.

There’s a forum I like to attend and there was a debate about attending church (building). This is what I said.

“Church”… well, it’s not a building, but people. I’m not a French or Dutch speakers so I am unable to attend a “local” church building and hang out with the Church. Yes, there’s an anglican church somewhere in Brussels but having visited them, they’re as dead as last weeks fish and my Spirit isn’t guiding me to go there. So here I am. I don’t consider this forum to be church but I learn things and share things like the Church is supposed to do. I don’t consider the mods to be my pastor as Jesus is my Pastor. I’ve attended home churches, mega churches, dead churches and holy roller shouting churches, but the best I ever had was when the Lord would call three couples, myself, my best friend and his friend and his girlfriend to go to an older couples home for “service”! No one called anyone, nothing was planned. We’d just get a desire to go and BOOM! THE body of Christ would come together and BE the Church! It was awesome! It was great! The Lord had us all stationed in a small Air Force base in Italy and there we met! As with any assignment, we were scattered to the winds but what a great two years! It changed my life in so many ways. It was during this time I KNEW God wanted to be a part of every aspect of our lives. Miracles happened. The word of God became alive not just as stories in a book called the Bible. We were living those stories! I feel very sad for those that treat the written word of God as metaphorical or allegorical, I used to too, until I experienced it for myself. Don’t make sweeping generalizations and expect them to stick, God is not a God of bondage, but of freedom and in peace. Do what He wants you to do in YOUR life and share it with us. The word of God is there for all in whatever state you’re in, that’s how powerful it is. What applies to you doesn’t always apply to others. What you see as sin may not be for another.

Romans 14:7-14 (KJV)
For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, [As] I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in [his] brother’s way. I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that [there is] nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him [it is] unclean. 

So do you see that? If you BELIEVE you must attend church and YOU do not, then it’s a sin to YOU. The word of God guides us in all the things WE need for OURSELVES. Some need the moral support of stronger Christians and they NEED to go to church but that is for their benefit and not a commandment. We’re dead to the Law. So what laws you’ve set for yourself does not apply to others.

Romans 14:15-23 (ESV2011)
For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

I was on a forum where people were debating over something some TV preacher had said 15 years ago. I find that the church is so filled with the spirit of division, too busy “defending” their dogma to focus on God, that when a preacher/speaker/teacher says something it’s like they’re bound to it forever with no way to escape to the possibility of growth, maturity or a greater understanding. I’ve listen to people speak for 36 years and my own beliefs and understandings have changed over the years. What I find most irritating is that so many stick to the dogmatic teachings of their denomination instead of what the word of God says, interpreting some passage to mean one thing while someone else interprets it another way. Have you ever noticed that? Why would you think the Holy Spirit would allow such division? Simple, because they don’t ask Him. There is only one Truth and the Holy Spirit is the only way to find it out.

Here’s an example “I” had to go through. I did a chronological study of man from Adam to today using the scriptures as the foundation. Now, in my upbringing I was taught that Abraham left Haran after his father Terah died… funny though, that’s not what the scriptures say, but that’s how it’s interpreted. I had a real problem. The mathematics of the scriptures didn’t support the seeming contradiction of Gen 11-12 and Acts 7:4. Knowing full well there were no contradictions in the scriptures I could not reconcile this issue. It took me two years to find the answer. My study stopped all that time because I could not find the answer. Until I asked the Holy Spirit to sort it out for me. The next day I found (and many won’t like this) the book of Jasher and I read in it how Terah attended the weaning of Isaac. I knew it had to be an error, but the Spirit said read the Greek word for “father” in Acts 7:4. I found out that it also means “father: near or far, ancestor.” The math told me the “father” that died was not Terah but Noah! So I looked for a precedence in the scriptures and God Himself said that Abraham was the father of Jacob to Jacob when in reality he was his grandfather (Gen 28:13).

Still many won’t believe this, and that’s fine. It’s not that important since the puzzle kept me in the word of God. As christians mature, they realize what they knew years ago isn’t necessarily the truth now that they know better. This is why the word of God is alive (not the paper) but the message. The entire written word of God is a map to Jesus from any starting point of the reader. It is not the end of the whole story. But because of pride of so many readers, they reject those that see it from a different angle. It’s like the three blind men describing different part of an elephant, or five people explaining the car accident they all witnessed. Imagine the gems within the holy scriptures we are still discovering today, thousands of years later, like current events of dark matter being found in Genesis, because of its power!

See the thing is, the written word of God takes you to the all powerful, all knowing, all present God Almighty where there is no limit. John says that just the things of what Jesus did here on earth cannot contain the books that would be written about Him. The Holy Spirit knows it all and wants to share that information with the bride-to-be, we just have to ask. So what will happen: heresy! Why? Because there is so much more to God that some refuse to accept it solely because it wasn’t first written in a dusty scroll! Think about it: most of you believe the NT but what of those that never had it but only the OT right after Jesus returned to heaven!

Don’t accept everything everyone says (not even me) but ask the One Who can tell YOU the truth and let the others believe what they want. He is all that matters.

1 John 2:27 (KJV)
But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

Just a thought.

I hope you bear with me on this. I don’t drink alcohol, not because I’m against it, but because for me it’s like drinking medicine. You cannot tempt me with alcohol. Now, put a chocolate chip cookie out there and I’ll fight you for it (j/k). The point is, you cannot be tempted with that which you do not want. Women will never understand the power of a guy’s visual stimulation. So what’s the devil do? He puts every scantily clad girl out there on TV, internet, magazines (and I’m not talking porn here) but just in the supermarket. But here’s the thing, and it works, put it all under the blood. Sounds too spiritual I know, but you are a spiritual being and with repentance and the power of the Blood of Jesus Christ. How? Repentance is to change one’s mind and you’ve already done that because of the condemnation you feel. Now you just have to put the repentance into practice.

Do this practical exercise: take any magazine page and put it on a wall. Get some red paint and paint over it until you cannot read the page. Now that you have this visual process in your mind, recall every inappropriate image you can remember and paint over it in your mind – the “paint” being the Blood of Jesus. Claim in the Name of Jesus to be gone. This will work if you believe. Here’s why it works.

All throughout the scriptures the word says to guard against your thoughts. Jesus said this:

Matthew 5:28 (KJV)
But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

Jesus equates the sin of adultery with looking on a woman with lust. How so? Well, you see a pretty girl, and in an instance, your MIND is racing scenarios of what she might look like nude, or in compromising positions. This is done on the movie screen of your mind. This causes all kinds of physical reactions, hormonal increases, releasing addictive endorphins … These fantasies rewire your brain so that you can produce these endorphins every time you fantasize and because of that you become more addictive, creating a vicious circle of sin, condemnation, frustration, repentance, sin, condemnation, frustration, repentance, sin, condemnation, frustration, repentance… So why doesn’t the repentance stick? We’re not warring correctly. We can’t do it in the flesh. Read this slowly:

2 Corinthians 10:3-6 (KJV)
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare [are] not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds) ; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

Your strong-hold (and 99.9999999% of all guys) is this issue of lust in today’s loose society. You must cast down imaginations and every high thought and bring it into captivity (through the blood of Jesus). And when, not if, when the temptations arise, you close your eyes, paint the Blood of Jesus over it and claim the power of His obedience. This is having an active mind and not a passive mind. An active mind is controlling the thoughts you have, focusing all the time on the task at hand. This is why the word says to meditate on the word day and night, why to have a song in your heart, praying without ceasing, they are ways to keep your mind active and focusing on Jesus. This is how you first, submit to God, and resist the devil.

James 4:7-8 (KJV)
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse [your] hands, [ye] sinners; and purify [your] hearts, [ye] double minded.

You’re struggling, like we all do, because you’ve not dealt with this sin in your life, and until you do, you’ll always remain in this vicious circle until you either win or surrender and stop trying, searing your conscience with a hot iron. So read these verses and learn what God is trying to say:

Philippians 4:7-9 (KJV)
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things [are] honest, whatsoever things [are] just, whatsoever things [are] pure, whatsoever things [are] lovely, whatsoever things [are] of good report; if [there be] any virtue, and if [there be] any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

The war you’re going through is the same for everyone, some with alcohol, other with feelings of inadequacies and binging on ice cream until they’re 300 lbs with diabetes. Everyone has a vice, and these tendencies are the meaning to this verse:

Exodus 34:7 (KJV)
Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear [the guilty]; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth [generation].

Since our parents didn’t deal with their sins, the tendencies towards one or another are in our DNA, scientists have proven this. They’ve also proven that we can rewrite our DNA by doing just what the word of God says to do, have an active mind. Now this only works because you’re a Christian through the Blood of Jesus. There are indeed benefits to the lost too, but they’ll never overcome. So take comfort, it is indeed in your mind just like Paul says:

Romans 7:21-25 (KJV)
I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

2 Timothy 1:7 (KJV)
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

I pray this helps, it did me  that’s why I know it works!

As children we are born innocent, ignorant of the law. We grow up and our parents, our teachers, our baby sitters, our pastors, and society as a whole teach us about laws: God’s law, physical laws, governmental laws, acceptable societal laws, and our own experiential laws. As we grow older we begin to pick and choose how and when to obey laws based on our experiences and beliefs.

If the governmental law says that the speed limit is 25mph and as soon as we go past 25mph we are criminals. That’s the law, plain and simple. Societal laws say that going over the limit by 5mph usually won’t get you noticed by the law enforcers – the police. We take that thinking with us where ever we go. Some think “As long as I don’t get caught, I’m innocent.” Then when and only when they are caught, they repent, but only enough to reduce the fine or talk their way out of punishment. Why not, it worked on our parents. But as soon as they’re let go with a firm warning or a light fine, they’re back to their old ways.

Paul says “…for by the law [is] the knowledge of sin.” God said not to lie (bear false witness) and because He said so, now it’s a law. Every time we “stretch” the truth, or omit the truth we are lying to others and to ourselves thereby breaking God’s law. In God’s eyes, anyone who breaks His laws must die. The payment for breaking God’s law is death. That’s it, plain and simple. It is just like being thrown into a debtor’s prison until the funds are raised to get you out of debt. If there’s no one that is willing to help you raise the needed funds, you’ll die there, in your debt. Except you’re thrown into this prison from birth! How fair is that? It isn’t! So a loving God sent His perfect holy Son to live in the flesh, like us, and live in the flesh without breaking God’s law, and then to pay for our debtor prison’s fine – death. His innocence was transferred to your account and your debt was transferred to His account, and He died for you, and you were set free. In God’s eyes, you died with Christ. If you’re dead there’s no law and if no law how can you be accused? If your great-great-great-grandfather is dead, how can the police arrest him for anything! That is how God sees you when you accept the gift of His Son. Unlike being dead in society, Jesus rose from the dead and since we died with Him on the cross, when He rose from the dead we rose to newness of life!

Now begins the war. When Jesus died for you, He died for your soul and spirit, but your flesh (body and mind) is still doomed until His return. You see Adam was the ruler of all, but when he chose to follow his own thoughts and disobey God, everything in the universe was infected with sin. Your body, just like the flower in your garden, or your dog, even the sun, is subject to the sin that Adam committed, and is cursed by God. While this might be hard to swallow [pun intended], but Adam saw that nothing happened to Eve when she ate the forbidden fruit, and not being deceived, willfully ate the fruit, and everything became infected with sin. So now when Adam and Eve had children, they too were infected with sin. This is why Jesus was born of a virgin, the sin-infected DNA of Adam wasn’t passed to Jesus.

So about this war… since we are dead, what war? Well, we still grew up with laws and the way of thinking about them directs our choices, good or bad. Most of those laws are wrong and so as we learn the truth through the written word of God and His Holy Spirit that lives within us. Therefore, we have a lot of things to unlearn. Romans 7 spells out this war. And while we are dead to sin, we must not allow it to continue to reign in our lives. The way to overcome them is through the knowledge of the Holy Spirit’s truth and renewing our minds every day. Paul says that we want to do good, but still inside is this desire to do the old ways, and sin. Sin is still in our bodies until we are free from it and that can only happen when the body succumbs to physical death or Jesus returns and gives us bodies like His. Read this:

Romans 7:22-24 (KJV) For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Notice this war is in our thoughts. The decisions we make are all based on these life-long teachings, these laws, that we’ve accepted throughout our lives. “I know I shouldn’t, but I so want that cupcake!” Exaggerating the truth is still a lie and most people do it out of a lifetime of habit. These are the battles, the war, we fight in our minds. We are to take captive every thought and useless imagination. That means we’re to have an active mind, not a passive mind. A passive mind is one where you’re reading a book and you know you’ve read page, but at the same time, you were thinking about your kids, or work, and you don’t remember what you read. Or you’re walking down the street and you’ve walked a mile and didn’t even realize it because you were thinking of everything except your surroundings. Have you ever drove on “auto-pilot”? All these things are passive. This is why so many people are unhappy. They’re either thinking about the future or the past, and that means anything other than living in this very moment.

I guarantee you most people won’t have made it this far in this teaching, and if you have, you’re more active in your thinking than most. As a final thought [pun intended] let’s read the answer to Paul’s (and our) dilemma:

Romans 7:25 (KJV) I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

You are dead to sin, don’t let the devil whip up thoughts of condemnation. How can you be condemned when you’re already dead! Paul warns not to let your liberty (your freedom) from sin be an excuse to sin. You’re an ambassador for God and your mission is to bring men to God and God to men – reconciliation. When you deal with the sins in your flesh you’ll reap the reward of peace. They call it a “conscience” but it’s really the law of God written on our hearts. So when we don’t listen to what’s written within us, we’re not at peace.

Just my two cents. I hope you enjoyed it. I learned a lot 😀