Although my flesh continues to draw me to sin, the Holy Spirit maintains within me a desire for holiness. (1 John 3:9) What diligence and watchfulness is required of me when this enemy in my soul is ready to oppose every effort I make to do good! I must stay watchful; always on guard!18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
The Bible tells us that the heart is deceitful and unsearchable to any but God alone (Jeremiah 17:9-10). We do not know our own hearts. My heart is deceitful. My heart excuses, rationalizes, justifies my actions. It blinds me to the sin in my life. I must stay watchful; always on guard! I must ask God daily to search my heart and show me the sin that I cannot see. Psalm 139:23-24 says:
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
It is my own evil desires that tempt me to sin. (James 1:14) Oh, so true! I need to realize that the problem lies within me. I must stay watchful; always on guard!24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
The "accuser" uses discouragement as his chief weapon to keep me off guard. He wants to keep me discouraged so that the good I am doing does not seem to be working. He wants me to give up in my 'pursuit of holiness'. This deceit from my chief enemy draws me away from the Lord little by little and I become susceptible to listening to his lies and I am drawn away from watchfulness through discouragement. I say to myself, "what's the use...I'll never be good enough to be a vessel for the Lord. I just keep messing up." I must stay watchful; always on guard!
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Satan will use the fact that I am staying watchful and really keeping my guard up and he will lie to me and tell me that I am beyond temptation. What a lie! Do I fall for that? Do I look at someone else's sin and say, I'll never be tempted by that?" I must be careful in my watchfulness...that's why it's important to have brothers and sisters in Christ who will help to watch my back. Who will come to me and lovingly remind me that it is only the power of God in my life that will keep me from temptation and sin. I must not be drawn away from watchfulness by overconfidence. I must stay watchful; always on guard!
I must remember that my fight against sin will never end. My heart will deceive me, my desires will lead me into temptation and my reason is constantly in danger of being deceived. I must stay watchful; always on guard!
"Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." Proverbs 4:23
Dawn, I love Proverbs 4:32. Our heart is the "wellspring" of life. How powerful it is to think about that. We often neglect our spiritual heart. No wonder we feel so "dead" and worn-out. We are cutting off our "wellspring of life". On the flip side of that, all we have to do to be constantly refreshed and feel alive in Him is keep a watch on our spiritual heart. Loretta
ReplyDeleteWell, Proverbs 4:23 is what I meant to write!
ReplyDelete:-)