Wednesday, October 14, 2015

To the Christian trapped in sin...

To the Christian trapped in sin…

This is what I wish someone had told me years ago when I was trapped in a web of lies and sin. I was buried in bondage so suffocating that I didn’t know how to draw a breath of clean air from the Holy Spirit.

It was right there, available, the whole time. Only I never knew, or believed...or even cared.

I was in a dark, cold jail cell. Picture it with me. Hard concrete walls, cold, void of any light, joy, happiness, and most of all- void of Truth. The curious thing is even though I was a prisoner…the door to the cell was wide open!

You see, when Christ died for our sins, He died for them ALL. He swung that creaky jail cell door open wide with Salvation and Redemption. Our part is to get up off the jail bed and walk through the door to the freedom He gives. It’s already there, ours for the taking! I was a believer, in that, I had accepted Christ as my Savior, but I had slipped into a season of sin and bondage like none I have heard of since. I literally walked into the jail cell on my own and sat down and stayed.

What kept me solidly on that jail bed was fear, lies and deception. To name a few fears- Fear of complete rejection, fear of devastatingly hurting the ones I love, fear of severe condemnation, fear losing all my friends, fear of failure, to sum it up, it was fear of losing everything in life I loved.

The lies and deceptions are what gave birth to the fears. I was convinced that everyone in my life loved and accepted me based off of my performance, my achievements, because this is how I felt my own worth. I was buying Satan’s lies quicker than he could put a price tag on them. I believed the lies quicker than I believed any of God’s Word and what He says about me. I believed the lie that I was a worthless person and deserved every punishment I got. I believed God was disappointed in me and sorry He ever called me. I didn’t believe the Grace and Mercy preached from the pulpit Sunday was the same Grace and Mercy offered Monday morning. Condemnation was to be swift and sure, I had truly gone too far.

Until that amazing day when Christ ripped open the clouds, came down and dragged me out of that pit, that jail cell, so completely that there was never a fear of ever returning. His redemption and restoration for me was so thorough and comprehensive, down through the core of me, that the new me has no resemblance to the old me, other than my scars. He made very sure I knew He had made a calling on my life and He was finished waiting around for me to use the ladder He gave me to climb out of the pit.

The lies were all smoke and mirrors, a shroud. Satan is after the testimony of the Saints, to soil the bride of Christ. A defeated Christian who believes Satan’s lies is his goal. He is the father of lies and can weave a lie so crafty and well suited to you that it masquerades as truth and light. Until you hear the lock click on your shackles….

What I say to the one caught in sin is stop believing the lie! Christ’s work on the cross is complete provision for all your sins and you cannot go too far. When Scripture says in Romans 5:20 that where sin abounds grace abounds more, it’s as though sin has made a mark and grace runs right past it, covers it and blots it out completely. Whatever lies and deceptions Satan has sold you, there is a way out! Truth is so pure and so right, it will knock the wind out of your lungs and crush you in love and grace. I remember at one point nearly crying uncle over the amount of grace I had been shown. I could hardly take it. The magnitude of God’s love hit me like a Mack truck and kept backing up and running over me until I got it through my thick head.

Don’t remain on that jail bed any longer, the door has been swung open wide and Satan is trembling in his boots waiting for the moment you see through the fog and walk through the door to the light. Be victorious over sin, you were called to it!

I Corinthians 15:57- But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.


Listen and be blessed by this great song describing this thing we call Amazing Grace.
Call it Grace by Unspoken



6 comments:

  1. I know exactly what you're talking about. Oh, how much.
    This reminds me of when my family finally left a church we had attended for 10 years, steeped in legalism. When I found out about grace, and who the God in the actual Bible was like, my world and my life crashed. In a good way. Nothing was ever the same. Oh, praise Jesus!! For unfailing Love and mercy.

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  2. Wow! I know this jail cell. Not for myself but for my son. He has stepped inside and believes Satans lies. He feels the struggle daily but hasn't yet stepped out of the door. It's been so hard. Can ask you to please pray that God reaches down and pulls him out.
    Hannah

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    1. Oh Hannah, I know so intimately that struggle. I will certainly pray for him that He hears and sees Truth and that our great God of rescue reaches down and plucks him out and places his feet on solid ground.

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  3. Thank you for sharing your heart with us! God is amazingly good to pull us out of our sins!

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  4. we all need to be reminded of that every once in a while

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